photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World File Photo

A Lawrence Police Department vehicle is seen in this file photo from September 2018.

Following a discussion Monday, researchers investigating the racial breakdown of traffic stops and other law enforcement contact in Douglas County will share their initial findings during a public meeting Tuesday morning.

The researchers held a community meeting Monday evening where they explained the study’s process and took questions from the public, but did not share any data. The Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, Douglas County, the City of Lawrence, and other partners hired Northeastern University in 2019 to conduct the study as part of a $175,000 contract.

Researchers Jack McDevitt, of Northeastern University, and Janice Iwama, of American University, helped develop and implement the process for documenting traffic and pedestrian stops in Douglas County. The agencies participating in the study are the Lawrence police department, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, University of Kansas Police Department, Baldwin City Police Department and Eudora Police Department.

McDevitt said Monday that none of the five Douglas County law enforcement agencies taking part in the study previously had a process for keeping track of data regarding police contact to identify racial disparities. He said that in addition to the racial breakdown of those stopped by law enforcement, the study would look at the racial breakdown of who gets a citation verses a warning and who gets searched verses who doesn’t.

“Those are the indicators that we are looking at to see whether or not there are any disparities in the data,” McDevitt said.

McDevitt said as social scientists they know that an officer may racially profile people, and the study will look for trends and patterns to determine if that is occurring. He said data for 16,000 stops had been collected so far, and that the study would drill down to see where the disparity is happening and who are the victims. Ultimately, he said researchers would provide a plan to law enforcement agencies for addressing the disparities.

Iwama said the data that will be shared Tuesday morning will be preliminary, and that the final report will not be complete until January or February of 2022. She said that report would include the recommendations for addressing concerns.

Information initially released about Monday’s meeting indicated that data would be shared Monday. About 35 people, including some staff members for agencies partnering in the study, attended the meeting. Questions from the public included whether the collection of data about racial disparities would continue after the completion of the study, whether there would be future public meetings to discuss the study’s findings, and whether anything was being done immediately to address racial disparities.

Mike Brouwer, Douglas County criminal justice coordinator, responded that it is expected that all five law enforcement agencies involved with the study will continue to collect the data of their own accord after the researchers finish the study. He said there would be additional public meetings in the future.

McDevitt said researchers were working with the law enforcement agencies and showing them where disparities were found, but he said that disparities do not necessarily mean there is discrimination, and that that determination would be made as the study continued.

The preliminary data from the study will be shared during the Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council meeting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. A link to attend the virtual meeting is available on the CJCC’s website, douglascountyks.org/cjcchub, and Brouwer said a recording of the meeting and as well as the data will also be posted on the website after the meeting.