Troy police chief details training and explains reasons behind traffic-stop disparities

Troy — The city’s police chief outlined training requirements, department policy and month-by-month traffic-stop data during a Human Relations Commission meeting after commissioners raised questions about apparent disparities in who received citations and warnings.

Commissioners say the discussion matters because traffic enforcement intersects with neighborhood safety and community trust; the chief provided detailed case-level examples to explain why some stops led to citations while others resulted in warnings.

The chief said about two-thirds of Troy officers now have less than five years’ experience and described required training that includes 16 hours of cultural diversity and procedural-justice instruction, 5 hours of ethics training and 16 hours of the Blue Courage series, supplemented by state-mandated continuing professional training. He repeated the department’s written policy forbidding bias-based policing and said the primary goal of traffic enforcement is “to reduce collisions and enhance safety.”

The chief walked commissioners through November and December stop data to show how case details affect whether an officer issues a citation or a warning. For November he reported 24 citations issued to 18 Black men: 11 for driving under suspension…