Today, the City of Cleveland released the results of an independent analysis conducted by the firm Sigma Squared, confirming the absence of racial process bias in traffic stop, search, and seizure practices by the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP).
“Stop, search, and seizure practices sit at the heart of how communities experience policing, and this report takes a closer look at the Cleveland Division of Police's data to understand not just what happens, but whether it happens fairly,” said Dr. Leigh R. Anderson, Executive Director of the City of Cleveland’s Police Accountability Team. “Our commitment is to keep examining this data openly, and to work alongside the community to ensure that enforcement continues to be applied consistently, respectfully, and in a way that builds trust.”
In order to identify the potential presence of bias, the report first calculates raw and controlled disparities from 2024 data. This includes controlling for specific factors – such as interaction circumstances, location, and stop reason. Data scientist Dr. Tanaya Devi, Harvard professor Dr. Roland Fryer, and their independent firm then analyzed those disparities and concluded there was no evidence of racial bias in the overall process in which CDP conducts its stops and searches.
"Fairness in policing is a moral imperative — and one that demands empirical rigor to evaluate honestly," said Dr. Tanaya Devi, Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist of Sigma Squared. "While the data reveal disparities in search rates, they do not show evidence of process bias in overall search decisions. We hope this analysis gives Cleveland a clearer picture of where things stand and where work remains."
Outcomes following searches are also broadly consistent across racial groups, with similar contraband discovery rates and arrest rates once a search occurs. This pattern also prevails at the district level, where contraband hit-rate tests do not identify significant differences in any district on the basis of race.
The City retained Sigma Squared, a data analytics company, fulfilling a pledge made by the Bibb Administration to hire an independent organization to conduct a comprehensive analysis of CDP’s stop, search, and seizure data. Sigma Squared’s team is led by Dr. Fryer, a Professor of Economics at Harvard University who was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal. He was also recognized by The Economist in 2008 as one of the top eight young economists in the world.
“The relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve is extraordinarily important,” said Dr. Roland Fryer, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, and CEO Co-Founder of Sigma Squared. “If we rely solely on population percentages to judge police activity – assuming that a group’s share of stops must equal its share of the population – we risk eroding trust and overlooking the real drivers of public safety."
In 2025, the Independent Federal Monitoring Team filed a Stop, Search, and Seizure report concurrent to the reporting period for which Sigma Squared was retained. In this independent assessment, the Monitor observed, “To some extent, the patterns of these racial disparities resemble the residential demographics within each Police District given the racially segregated housing patterns across the city.” The City complied with the Federal Monitor’s encouragement of further analyzing the data. In the assessment, the Monitor further highlighted, “The vast majority of stops reviewed were supported by sufficient articulation or reasonable suspicion (95.24%), and probable cause in 90.8% of arrests.”
Through data-driven analysis, the Cleveland Division of Police is strengthening public transparency, improving decision-making across operational domains, and supporting a policing framework that reflects consistent application of enforcement practices.
“The Cleveland Division of Police is committed to constitutional policing, and recent assessments are a validation of our policies, training, and practices.” said Chief Todd. “We place transparency and accountability at the core of what we do to build trust with the community we serve.”
The City is further exploring the context of the report through a series of community engagement events hosted in partnership with Kent State University, as part of an initiative focused on strengthening public trust, enhancing collaboration, and promoting accountability between the Cleveland Division of Police and residents across the city.
Ongoing community input, city leadership, and academic research, demonstrate the Mayor and his administration’s commitment to sustainable and resilient constitutional policing through a coordinated, all-of-government approach. This strategy is focused on identifying practical, evidence-based solutions that build trust and improve public safety outcomes for Cleveland residents.
These partnerships represent a meaningful opportunity to deepen collaboration between law enforcement and the communities they serve, advance ongoing reform efforts, rebuild public trust, and invest in safer, more resilient neighborhoods.
Cleveland 2024 Stop & Search Outcomes
2024 Stop Analysis - Full Report
