At the Fayetteville City Council meeting Monday, council members continued to debate each other about consistent racial disparities in traffic stops conducted by Fayetteville police officers.
Police Chief Kemberle Braden presented to the council traffic stop data for the entirety of 2023, which was similar to data in previous quarterly reports in 2023. In the annual report, white drivers accounted for 16,230 traffic stops, or 32% of the total stops, while making up 39% of Fayetteville’s population. Black drivers accounted for 31,816 traffic stops, or 64% of total stops, while making up 42% of the Fayetteville population. Search rates were also higher for Black drivers at 4% of vehicles searched, and lower for white drivers at 2% of vehicles searched.
Throughout the presentation, council members posed questions to Braden. Debate around traffic stops came to a head when Council Member Mario Benavente proposed a motion to have the council’s Community Safety Committee consider possible measures to address racial disparities in the stops and searches, and return to the council with recommendations to improve the issue.
“I'd like for us to make a motion right now that the Community Safety Committee on city council can look at this issue, disparate stops and searches, what we can do to address it based on things that are legal in North Carolina, and be able to bring that back to a work session without necessarily having to do a council member request,” Benavente said. “Because we're asking right now that this be something that we can work on.
“This is the fundamental cultural shift the city of Fayetteville needs to undergo,” Benavente continued with regard to his proposed motion. “The police do not equal public safety. We as a board have all the authority to address public safety issues, and that does not happen just with the police department, does not happen only through the police department. We can bring down crime in this community without arrests going up.”
The council voted 7-3 to oppose Benvaente’s measure, with council members Malik Davis and Deno Hondros joining Benavente in voting in favor. Council members D.J. Haire, Lynne Greene, Derrick Thompson, Brenda McNair and Courtney Banks-McLaughlin, and Mayor Mitch Colvin and Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen, voted against the measure. Senior members of the council were especially outspoken about their opposition, arguing it was not in the council’s purview.
“I don't think we should ever get into the business of trying to tell the police how to police,” Thompson said. “I will never go for that. I think if we have a concern or issue about any specific area, we bring it to the police chief's attention and we let him figure it out with him and his staff. They're the experts in this field and we are not.”
Jensen suggested the council have Dr. Gerard Tate, director of the N.C. Office of Violence Prevention within the N.C. Dept. of Public Safety, who is advising the council on its Office of Community Safety initiative, also provide guidance on the traffic stop disparities.
“We're talking about making some serious decisions here and talking about something that has not been in any of our wheelhouses as much as we say it is,” Jensen said. “It's not in our wheelhouse. We're not police officers. We're not out there.”
The motion followed exchanges during Braden’s presentation between Benavente and the police chief surrounding racial disparities in traffic stops as well as police use-of-force incidents, which also disproportionately involved Black men in Fayetteville, according to the data.
Braden said he believed there was no evidence for racial profiling within the police department of Black drivers.
“As a police officer, I can put no racial input or bias into the reason for a stop,” Braden said. “The outcomes, what the race or the color of the driver is once that stop is conducted, is something I have no control over.”
Colvin expressed concern about other racial disparities in the 2023 data, such as in homicides and aggravated assault cases that disproportionately involved Black individuals. Colvin also mentioned, as a cautious example, the city council’s attempt in 2012 to address racial disparities in traffic stops. The attempt resulted in the resignation of the city manager at the time, WRAL reported, who had butted heads with the council over its vote to temporarily halt traffic stop consent searches while an independent group reviewed claims of racial disparities in police traffic stops.
Police department annual review
Police data from 2023 showed crime was down overall in Fayetteville, with homicides being a major exception. Here’s a look at the statistics presented on Monday:
Crime trends
Traffic stops
SoundThinking (formerly known as ShotSpotter)
Use-of-force incidents
Other police statistics
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.
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