State Police say that a review of the 460,446 traffic stops by Michigan State Police troopers in 2017 show that race and ethnicity of those stops correspond with the state's 2016 U.S. Census data.
Troopers were required to record the race of the individual they stopped, "from visual observation using the race categories as defined by the U.S. Census." State Police policy does not allow troopers to ask drivers about their race. If the trooper was unable to determine the race of the driver, they were asked to enter the information as unknown.
The following information is what Police have released:
American Indian and Alaska Native:
Total Traffic Stops: 1,369
% of Traffic Stops: 0.2%
MI Population: 0.7%
Asian:
Total Traffic Stops: 3,612
% of Traffic Stops: 0.8%
MI Population: 3.1%
Black or African American:
Total Traffic Stops: 77,563
% of Traffic Stops: 16.9%
MI Population: 14.2%
Hispanic or Latino:
Total Traffic Stops: 8,617
% of Traffic Stops: 1.9%
MI Population: 5.0%
Unknown:
Total Traffic Stops: 25,619
% of Traffic Stops: 5.6%
MI Population: n/a
Two or More Races:
Total Traffic Stops: n/a
% of Traffic Stops: n/a
MI Population: 2.4%
White:
Total Traffic Stops: 343,666
% of Traffic Stops: 74.6%
MI Population: 75.4%
