BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Since June 2020, the Buffalo Police Department has been issuing stop receipts. It's for people they pull over but do not issue tickets to.
"Was it because they ran a stop sign and the officer gave them a break? Was it because they were speeding and the officer gave them a break? They also could have been stopped because that vehicle matched a description," Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said.
Jazmyne France-Troupe of Buffalo said she thinks this can be a positive program.
"It could help out with the racial profiling aspect of policing," France-Troupe said. "Because now you're having an officer actually write down and explain why they're stopping you."
Since the creation of the program, Gramaglia said there have been about 7,200 traffic stops. Here is what the stop receipt looks like. Officers write down the date, time, location, reason for the stop and whether their body camera was on. They also have to write down race — something Gramaglia said has only been reported on 75% of receipts.
According to census data, the City of Buffalo's population is 47% white and 36% black. 7 News compiled the data and found there were 148 traffic stops in the last week.
To break it down even further, 64% of the stops involved black individuals, 24% were white drivers and 13% of receipts did not report race.
"It makes sense, especially depending on what areas they're policing," France-Troupe said. "But if you're in a more highly white populated area and the number is still 64%, that would be a little bit of a deficit and probably would be more-so perceived as racial profiling."
And for France-Troupe, she said the extra paper-work could go along way to help bridge the gap between police and the community they serve.
"Although it might be an extra bit of paperwork, I don't think its necessarily bad paperwork to have," France-Troupe said.
