Newest ACLU report reveals deep racial disparities in DC stop-and-frisk practices

WASHINGTON — A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of the District of Columbia exposes troubling racial disparities in the Metropolitan Police Department's (MPD) stop-and-frisk practices. Entitled “Bias at the Core?: Enduring Racial Disparities in D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Stop-and-Frisk Practices,” the analysis scrutinizes data collected from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2023.

The ACLU’s findings are stark. Despite Black residents making up just 44% of D.C.'s population, they account for a staggering 70% of those stopped by MPD. The report, which draws from a total of 136,805 stops, suggests that the practice disproportionately targets Black people, raising significant concerns about racial bias within the police department.

This analysis, which follows two previous ACLU reports on similar issues, underscores a troubling trend. The first report, published in June 2020, and the second in March 2021, both highlighted significant racial disparities in stop-and-frisk data. The current report reinforces these concerns.

“Research in other jurisdictions has shown that the most plausible explanation for consistent disproportionality is racial bias,” the report states. “Coupled with the disparities here and D.C.-specific anecdotal and contextual evidence, these patterns are suggestive of bias in MPD’s stop-and-frisk practices.”

In addition to documenting racial disparities, the report examines the effectiveness of stop-and-frisk in reducing gun violence. Data reveals that in 2022, only 0.9% of stops resulted in the seizure of a gun, with a small increase to 1.2% in 2023. The report argues that these low gun recovery rates indicate that stop-and-frisk is not a particularly effective tool for removing guns from the streets. 

The report argues that the stop-and-frisk practice, in its current form, fails to deliver meaningful safety benefits while perpetuating racial bias. The analysis emphasizes that the practice often implicates individuals' constitutional rights, can be traumatic for Black and Brown communities, and undermines confidence in the criminal justice system.

Policy Advocacy Director at ACLU-D.C. Scarlett Aldebot calls for urgent reform. “It’s time for District leaders to truly question why they uphold stop-and-frisk practices that lack community safety benefits — especially when these practices implicate people’s constitutional rights, can be traumatic to Black and Brown communities, and erode trust in the criminal justice system,” Aldebot asserts. “Instead of leaning into harmful and ineffective policing, the District should build a public safety system that protects us from bias, increases trust in government, and keeps all our communities safe.”

The ACLU’s new report is a wake-up call, urging us to rethink and improve stop-and-frisk policies to make them more just. For those interested in a deeper dive into the findings, the full report is available here.

At WUSA9, we’ve been committed to covering this issue for several years, shedding light on how these practices impact our community and advocating for meaningful change.

You can find our past coverage below: