The Wichita Police Department, with the assistance of community representatives designed a comprehensive data collection effort to assess race based policing in the routine enforcement activities of Wichita police officers. 37,454 stops were recorded and analyzed between January and July 2001. That information was provided to Dr. Brian Withrow of WSU.

The exhaustive study examined four key areas: the decision to stop, the stop itself, the decision to search and the result of the stop. Moving violations account for 53% of all stops made by police. Traffic accidents rank second at 19.5% and defective equipment is third at 11.4%.

While the general reason for the police stop is consistent throughout all race and ethnic groups, the study concludes African-American citizens are stopped at higher rates than White, Asian, Native-American and Hispanic citizens based on percentage of the total population. African-American citizens represent 11.4% of the Wichita's overall population and 20.7% of the police stops.

While the WSU study shows a disparity with respect to race within some of the Wichita Police Department's routine enforcement practices, researchers warn that evidence of racial disparity is not proof of race based policing. The study also concludes the findings can not be used to determine how much of this disparity, if any, is based on racial or ethnic prejudice.

The WSU study also determined the Wichita Police Department deploys officers on the basis of demand for services. Crime rates, calls from citizens and reported crime per residents are all used as measures for how officers are assigned.