Background

In 2015, we filed a public records request with the New Bedford Police Department (NBPD) to seek “Field Interview & Observation” (FIO) reports completed by the NBPD between 2012 & 2014.

A high-level analysis shows:

• While Black people were estimated to comprise 7.4 percent of the 2013 5-year population of New Bedford, they made up 56.6 percent of stop subjects. This is a 49.2 percent disparity between the observed stop rate and expected stop rate based on race data.
• While white people were estimated to comprise 75.8 percent of the 2012 population of New Bedford, they made up 40.5 percent of stop subjects. This is a 35.3 percent disparity between the observed stop rate and expected stop rate based off of race data.
• While Hispanic people were estimated to comprise 17.5 percent of the 2013 population of New Bedford, they made up 26.1 percent of stop subjects. This is a 8.6 percent disparity between the observed stop rate and expected stop rate based on race data.
• While Non-Hispanic individuals were estimated to comprise 82.5 percent of the 2012 population of New Bedford, they made up 71.7 percent of stop subjects. This is a 10.8 percent disparity between the observed stop rate and expected stop rate based off of race data.