Our report shows that “driving while black” constitutes a unique series of risks, vulnerabilities, and dangers at the hands of the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) that white drivers do not experience in the same way.

Upon reviewing MNPD’s traffic stop database, our report finds that:

• Between 2011-2015, MNPD conducted 7.7 times more traffic stops annually than the U.S. national average

• Between 2011-2015, MNPD made more stops of black people than there were black people 16 years old and over living in Davidson County

• Between 2011-2015, MNPD consistently and unnecessarily stopped and searched black drivers in predominantly black, Hispanic, and low-income communities at rates substantially higher than they did white drivers in predominantly middle to upper income communities

• MNPD consent searches are invasive and fail to yield incriminating evidence 88.4% of the time.

• Evidence of unlawful activity is found during searches of white drivers more often than in searches of black and Hispanic drivers

• Nearly 80% of all MNPD traffic stops in 2015 result in a warning, and, in traffic stops including a search of the vehicle or driver, between one-third and half result in a warning, which means hundreds of thousands of drivers are being stopped and searched unnecessarily every year

• Since 2012, Operation Safer Streets (OSS) has resulted in more than 58,000 vehicle stops and 11,000 arrests, the vast majority of which were concentrated in communities of color. More than 90% of OSS arrests were for misdemeanors, often for possession of small amounts of marijuana or driving without a license, and more than 80% of stops yielded no evidence that warranted arrest.

See the report HERE:

drivingwhileblacknashville.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/driving-while-black-gideons-army.pdf