Lee's Summit Police Dept
The rapid growth of Lee's Summit is outpacing the ability of census data to track the City's population of all demographics. As a local example, the data underrepresents the diversity of the population, reporting 7.85% African American residents while the school district reports 12.6% of students are African American, almost a 5% difference. Lee's Summit is also a retail, education and employment destination, attracting residents from adjacent urban centers with higher minority population percentages (25 – 40%) not reflected in the population data. The driving population statistics reflect traffic on major arterial roadways, such as I-470, M-291, US-50, and M-150. This through traffic is illustrated by the fact that over half of all individuals stopped are non-residents. The highest statistically significant search rate indicates African Americans are searched at a factor of 3.56, but this includes 148 “searches” mandated incident to or inventory due to arrest or the seizure of contraband in plain view. Only ten searches were based upon consent, along with 32 for reasonable suspicion (smell of alcohol or drugs or suspicion of a weapon) out of 3,849 traffic stops, or 1%. The police department continues to select, hire and train a diverse workforce to reduce the potential

for bias in policing.