Police Officer Learning, Mentoring, and Racial Bias in Traffic Stops, Syracuse, New York, 2006-2009 (ICPSR 38201)
Version Date: Jan 13, 2022 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
William C. Horrace, Syracuse University;
Shawn Rohlin, Kent State University
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38201.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This project is concerned with understanding the determinants of racial bias in police traffic stops and in the city of Syracuse, New York. Using an officer-level panel of data on vehicle stops and vehicle searches by 512 officers from 2006 to 2009, the primary goal of this research is to better understand the effects of officer experience on their proclivities for racial bias in traffic stops, while controlling for officer, citizen, and neighborhood demographics.
Included in these data are variables for census tracts as well as their racial and ethnic makeup, times and dates when traffic stops occurred, sunrise and sunset data for the City of Syracuse, and the racial and ethnic makeup of citizens involved in stops.
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Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
Census tract
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
This project is concerned with understanding the determinants of racial bias in police traffic stops in the city of Syracuse, New York. Using an officer-level panel of data on vehicle stops and vehicle searches by 512 officers from 2006 to 2009, the primary goal of this research is to better understand the effects of officer experience on their proclivities for racial bias in traffic stops, while controlling for officer, citizen, and neighborhood demographics.
Study Design View help for Study Design
A pre-existing officer-level panel of data on vehicle stops and vehicle searches by 512 officers from 2006 to 2009 was used for the analysis.
The census data utilized are publicly available 2000 census data for Onondaga County in New York. These data are used to determine which tracts are considered "black tracts."
Offenses data were obtained from the Syracuse City Police Department. These data are used to determine which tracts are considered "high crime" areas.
Stops data were obtained from the Syracuse City Police Department.
Time data came from the United States Naval Observatory's website.
Sample View help for Sample
A pre-existing officer-level panel of data on vehicle stops and vehicle searches by 512 officers from 2006 to 2009 was used for the analysis.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Vehicle stops and searches by police officers between 2006-2009 in Syracuse, New York.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
Dataset 2: Syracuse City Police Department.
Dataset 4: United States Naval Observatory's website.
Dataset 3: Syracuse City Police Department.
Dataset 1: 2000 census data for Onondaga County in New York.
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Dataset 1 contains publicly available 2000 census data for Onondaga County in New York.
Dataset 2 contains the date and census tract of offenses committed in the City of Syracuse.
Dataset 3 contains data on the exact minute of the sunrise, sunset, and when twilight starts and ends for each month in the City of Syracuse. These data came from the United States Naval Observatory's website.
Dataset 4 contains stops data obtained from the Syracuse City Police Department. It includes information about the discretionary stops between police officers and citizens including: the date, time, census tract, race of the citizen and whether it was a traffic or pedestrian stop. It also contains the streetlight value produced by the Geographic information Systems (GIS) software made by the process described in the supplemental appendix.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not applicable.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
None.
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The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.