Stop Watch: A Special Report
Key findings by agency

Frederick Police Department

• Blacks were three times as likely as whites to be searched by city officers during traffic stops.
• Blacks and Hispanics made up a higher proportion of Frederick Police Department stops than expected, based on the city’s population.
• Lower hit rates among city officers’ searches of Hispanics suggests these drivers were more likely than blacks or whites to be searched unnecessarily.

Maryland State Police

• Blacks and Hispanics were nearly twice as likely as whites to be searched by state police in discretionary searches.
• Blacks and Hispanics made up a higher proportion of state troopers’ stops than expected, based on the county’s population of licensed drivers.
• Hispanics stopped by state police were more likely than all other races to be given a traffic citation rather than a warning.

Sheriff’s Office

• Blacks were nearly twice as likely as whites to be searched by county deputies, and Hispanics were 60 percent more likely.
• While state and city police marked Hispanic drivers separately from other races and ethnicities, sheriff’s deputies more often than not characterized Hispanics as “white” or “other.”
• Lower hit rates among deputies’ searches of blacks and Hispanics suggests these drivers were more likely than whites to be searched unnecessarily.