TC Palm, May 2026
The Florida Highway Patrol searches Black drivers at more than three times the rate of White drivers, and it finds illegal drugs and weapons less often, according to a TCPalm analysis of over 1 million FHP traffic stops from 2024-25. Rates vary by county, with the disparity reaching as high as eight times in one Florida county. A county-by-county breakdown reveals stark geographic variation in how troopers treat Black drivers — disparities that civil rights and policing researchers say are among the strongest indicators of racial bias in a law enforcement agency.
FHP searches Black drivers more in these counties
In Manatee County, Black drivers were searched in 2% of traffic stops, compared to 0.24% for White drivers — making Black drivers eight times more likely to be searched. That translates to FHP stopping 1,331 Black drivers and searching 26, compared to stopping 5,444 White drivers and searching 13. Troopers in St. Johns, Columbia and Hillsborough counties searched Black drivers at least seven times more often than White drivers. In all, 25 counties showed Black drivers being searched at more than twice the rate of White drivers. In some rural counties, the numbers are based on only a handful of searches, making them harder to interpret statistically. But in heavily populated counties with thousands of stops, the disparities remain consistent.
