Officers are 22 percent less likely to find contraband on black drivers following consent searches and 12 percent less likely after probable cause searches. On the other hand, searches that are incident to arrest and warrant searches are essentially race neutral and blacks are more likely to be found with contraband after protective frisks. This indicates that officers are either worse at making probable cause assessments as to whether black motorists have contraband or have a lower threshold for what qualifies as cause when interacting with a black driver. Either possibility suggests that
...more