Milwaukie police report flags 'decision to stop' disparity for Black drivers

Milwaukie’s police chief told the City Council that the 2024 stops report flagged a potential racial disparity for Black drivers on the “decision to stop” test, reporting a result of 2.17 for that measure in the report’s sampled daylight/dusk window. The chief said the CJC methodology draws an “inner twilight” sample (roughly morning and a transition evening window) covering stops from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2024, and that the 2.17 value exceeded the commonly cited 1.8 cutoff used by the analyzer to indicate a potential fail.

The stops report uses three statistical checks: the decision-to-stop (veil-of-darkness) test, predicted dispositions (citations, searches, arrests), and search-finding analysis (rate of successful searches by group). According to the chief, the department met the standards on the second and third tests but did not meet the decision-to-stop test for Black drivers. The department’s overall dataset covered nearly 10,000 stops in the two-year window; the chief said there were roughly 728 stops of Black drivers in that period, with a subsample of 188 Black-driver observations in the inner-twilight window used for the decision-to-stop calculation.

Chief comments and department analysis emphasized methodological and operational factors that could affect the result. Staff noted that the CJC sample is restricted to an “inner twilight” period that shifts with the calendar and that small sample sizes can produce larger swings in the test statistic. The department also recently moved to 12-hour shifts (6 a.m.–6 p.m. and 6 p.m.–6 a.m.), changed briefing patterns and experienced turnover and a higher share of lower‑seniority officers on night shifts; those operational elements may affect when and how many stops occur during the sampled hours.

Councilors pressed for follow-up steps. Council members and staff discussed (1) asking the Criminal Justice Commission for a deeper methodological briefing, (2) analyzing the department’s raw 24‑hour stop data to identify deployment or briefing influences on the sampled window, (3) sharing the report with department staff, and (4) pursuing additional training options such as Fair and Impartial Policing (FIP). The chief said the department has already begun working with equity staff (Gabriela) and the CJC and welcomed further council direction and questions.

The council and staff acknowledged operational constraints: the department is understaffed, which limits the ability to pull all officers off the street for multi-day training cycles. Councilors urged prioritizing training and noted that staffing and fatigue can influence discretionary contacts. The department said it would share findings with staff and consider scheduling FIP or similar training when feasible. The chief added, “We take it really seriously. We want to own the data, learn from it and make the right steps as an organization.”

Ending: Councilors asked staff to return to an upcoming equity update with steps the police department will take and to consider whether to invite the CJC for a technical briefing on the stops-test methodology.