Report Finds Racial Disparities in Police Pedestrian and Traffic Stops
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Amanda Carter, Executive Communications and Policy Specialist
Email: ACarter@hamiltoncountypd.org
Phone: 859-445-9413
Report Finds Racial Discrimination in Police Pedestrian and Traffic Stops
Cincinnati, OH – The Law Office of the Hamilton County Public Defender has a duty to defend the constitutional rights of our clients. Through that work, we necessarily protect the rights of our community, including the right to be free of unreasonable stops, searches, and seizures. It is neither reasonable nor acceptable to target someone based on their race, but we unfortunately saw this happening to our clients.
Campaign Zero released a report yesterday that shows our clients were not outliers. Their research found that in 2025, Cincinnati police officers:
- Stopped Black people 3.4 times more often than White people
- Stopped Black pedestrians 5.4 times more often than White pedestrians
- Stopped Black drivers 3.2 times more often than White drivers
The City of Cincinnati has been collecting data on self-initiated officer stops for decades, as part of the Collaborative Agreement. Contact card data is available to the public on a city website, but has historically been difficult to understand, given the way that website presents it. As lawyers, we did not have the expertise to properly analyze this data; Campaign Zero offered to provide that expertise at no cost to taxpayers. We thank their researchers for caring about our community enough to bring clarity to this data. We thank their data analysts for working with us and the City to ensure the analysis included the necessary context and understanding.
The City collects this data to identify problems and seek early solutions. A better understanding of this data will help guide our community in attaining the goals of the Collaborative Agreement and achieving transparency around progress.
We are disappointed by what the data shows, but we are committed to being part of discussions about how to move forward. As we recognize the progress that has been made since 2001, we must also acknowledge there is significant work left to do to ensure that Cincinnati is a place where everyone feels safe. Fairness is a critical component to safety, and our community deserves both.
Angela Chang, incoming chief public defender for Hamilton County, responded: “Our clients are our biggest priority. These kinds of stops, even when they don’t result in criminal convictions, cause lasting harm. They undermine trust, break down relationships between community and their government, and erode constitutional protections. We hope this report is the beginning of a renewed conversation on how to improve policing in Cincinnati.”
For more information about the report or its findings, contact press@campaignzero.org.