Pa. State Police have begun collecting racial, ethnic data during traffic stops

The commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police said Tuesday that his department began collecting data during traffic stops at the beginning of the year as part of a program to identify any racial or ethnic disparities and recommend remedies if they do exist.

“Troopers take an oath to enforce the law ‘without any consideration of class, color, creed or condition,” and this data collection effort is one way to show the public we are upholding that oath,” Col. Robert Evanchick said in a statement.

“Regular and ongoing analysis by a neutral third party is a critical part of this program that emphasizes our department’s commitment to transparency and continuous improvement,” he said.

Evanchick said State Police will collect data for 30 fields, including driver and passenger ages, gender, race and ethnicity, as well the length of the stop, any searches and search results.

Data will be analyzed by University of Cincinnati researchers to determine patterns of racial or ethnic disparity any recommendations for changes to State Police policies or training, Evanchick said.

A final statistical analysis report will be released in April 2022, police said.

Cincinnati researchers previously did similar work on data collected by State Police from 2002 to 2011 that led to policy and training changes.

This time around, though, the department said the new effort would be augmented by technological advances and the “national conversation” about policing and race.

Evanchick said previous data collections were completed and reviewed by hand, which he called “cumbersome and time intensive” for troopers and drivers alike.

“For this project, we have digitally streamlined the process and integrated contact data reports with our existing mobile office environment to minimize the impact data collection has on the duration of traffic stops,” Evanchick said.

More:'Not one of my officers': York Police commissioner on officer 'Jeff' from DC riots

More:Pipe bomb thrown from vehicle explodes in Adams County man's front yard, police say