Key Findings
- The paper analyzes traffic stop statistics across participating and non-participating 287(g) agencies in North Carolina, a program designed to aid local law enforcement agencies in addressing serious crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants. The program was widely used to detain immigrants following minor traffic offenses.
- Summary data across traffic stops by local law enforcement agencies in North Carolina from 2010 to 2013 show that Hispanic motorists were more likely to be stopped for low-level traffic offenses and checkpoints relative to non-Hispanic motorists.
- Following the DOJ’s lawsuit against the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office, the other law enforcement agencies participating in the federal immigration enforcement program–but who were not under investigation–were more likely to stop Hispanic motorists at checkpoints, a setting in which discrimination in police stops is more difficult to detect. Conversely, they reduced (higher-visibility) stops of Hispanic motorists based on low-level violations.
- In short, these participating agencies shift policing efforts as the threat of federal investigation over misuse arises. However, this shift only perpetuates racial disparities in policing.
How does policing change in response to Department of Justice (DOJ) interventions? While a body of literature has shown that DOJ investigations into civil rights violations changes the behavior of those departments in question, an open question is how neighboring law enforcement agencies, not under investigation, may or may not change their behavior.
“DOJ Intervention and the Checkpoint Shift: Profiling Hispanic Motorists under the 287(g) Program,” a new article from DITE fellow Joaquin Alfredo-Angel Rubalcaba and Cook Center affiliates Alberto Ortega and Prentiss A. Dantzler, explores how a DOJ investigation into the Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina’s Alamance County affected policing behavior in similar agencies in the state. The paper’s findings suggest these agencies, under threat of investigation, modify their discriminatory strategies, perpetuating racial and ethnic disparities in policing.
