Share This Article
Claims of racial bias in policing have once again taken center stage in Cincinnati. Campaign Zero, a police reform organization, launched a new website that lets the public compare arrest rates for Black and white residents by neighborhood.
The website also highlights officers—identified by name—who most frequently stop Black individuals.
The platform allows users to compare how often Black residents are stopped by police compared to white residents across neighborhoods. In addition, it identifies officers with the highest disparities in stops involving Black residents.
Disparities highlighted in Campaign Zero analysis
In a report by Local 12, Campaign Zero’s preliminary report, expanded through the new online portal, alleges Cincinnati Police officers stopped Black people 3.4 times more often than white people. In some neighborhoods, including Mt. Lookout, the group reported even larger disparities. For example, Black people are 20.4 times more likely to be pulled over than white people.
The report also outlines additional disparities, including that “Black people are 2.1 times more likely to be searched than white people, 1.9 times more likely they’d have force used against them than white people and 1.8 times more than likely to get arrested than white people,” said Campaign Zero Executive Director DeRay McKesson at a press conference announcing the findings and responding to criticism.
READ: Police stop disparities report sparks debate over racial bias claims in Cincinnati
Police and city officials push back
The Cincinnati Police Department has rejected the report’s conclusions. Interim Police Chief Adam Hennie said,
“I believe the methodology employed is flawed, that the conclusions drawn are misleading and fail to provide important context,” adding, “I will not stand by while the professionalism, integrity and dedication of our officers is unfairly questioned,” Hennie said according to Local 12’s report
City officials said they were not consulted before the report’s release.
“This organization did not partner with us,” said Cincinnati City Council Member Jeff Cramerding. “I think we were one of the last people to see the report. So, it’s all been very disappointing and frustrating.”
Data source and methodology
Moreover, Local 12 reported that the analysis is based on roughly half a million police “contact cards,” which officers complete during traffic stops and pedestrian encounters. The Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office requested the analysis,.
“The concern was raised based on what we see in court,” said Angela Chang, chief attorney at the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office. “But, of course, we’re not data analysts, and we didn’t know what we would find or what Campaign Zero would find without a full analysis of the information.”
Campaign Zero also published officer-level data identifying individuals with the highest disparities in stops involving Black residents. When asked by Local 12 whether naming officers could put them at risk, McKesson said, “No,” adding, “We believe that public data should be public, that the analysis of public data should be public and we trust community members to be able to wrestle with complicated data and to be able make positive decisions about the data.”
City response and next steps
Cincinnati City Manager Sheryl Long has not gone on camera regarding the report but said in a text message to Local 12: “We have questions around the context and process and are reviewing these findings. The complexities of policing deserve a thorough review that includes all of the data the City has, including data that Campaign Zero did not use,” according to Local 12.
Campaign Zero said that even when incorporating additional city-provided data, the results remained largely the same. Moreover, the organization said its analysis still shows consistent disparities across multiple categories of police interaction, according to Local 12.
City officials said they will hire an outside firm to conduct an independent review of the contact card data. They also provided earlier studies, including a 2009 analysis. According to officials, that analysis found similar stop rates between Black and white residents. However, those reports did not match the depth of Campaign Zero’s analysis, according to Local 12.
Call for ongoing audits
Campaign Zero has called for annual audits of police contact card data to ensure transparency and accountability, according to Local 12.
