"Of course," Wright said. "Our question is what specific circumstances justified this detention, not whether officers may investigate crimes in general."
She opened a thick folder. Eleven colored tabs were visible along its edge. "Before we review the video, Officer Hughes, I want to ask whether you remember these complainants. Sherice Williams. Tamara Johnson. Angela Martinez. There are eight other names in the file."
He gave a tight smile. "Street officers get complaints. That's part of the job."
"One in February 2018 from a high school teacher who said you stopped her over a functioning tail light. One in August 2019 from a dental hygienist detained for forty-five minutes while a search found nothing. One in March 2022 from a paralegal who disputes consenting to a vehicle search. Each allegation was previously closed without sustained findings. Do you recall them?"
"Not every detail."
"That's understandable," Wright answered. "The people involved seem to remember them clearly."
She did not accuse him of conduct that had not yet been proved. Instead she placed the complaints into a documented pattern and explained why the independent team had reopened its analysis. A statistical review prepared during the chief's first months had identified unusual concentrations in Hughes's discretionary vehicle contacts. The records required verification and comparison with assignment patterns, but they warranted questions the old reviews had not asked.
"From September of last year through April," Wright said, "you logged sixty-three discretionary traffic and vehicle contacts in the sample we're examining. Fifty-six involved Black or Latina women. Only five resulted in citations. We will test those numbers against call assignments and other factors, but they are significant enough to require an explanation."
"My route has higher traffic," Hughes said.
"Then explain how the route accounts for ninety-four percent of the contacts occurring in three small sections of your assigned area."
"I go where the problems are."
"We have the incident and crime data. The neighborhoods aren't the highest-crime sections of your district. Did anyone instruct you to concentrate on them?"
Johnson's hand came down more firmly on Hughes's sleeve. For the first time that morning, the union president looked worried rather than irritated. "We'd like a short break," he said.
Wright agreed. During the break, Hughes stood beside a vending machine and asked Johnson whether the figures were real. Johnson replied that statistics could prove almost anything if somebody wanted them to. Hughes thought about the women he had stopped and could remember almost none of their names. He remembered their cars, the places they had pulled over, and the satisfaction of watching them become careful with their words. He had never considered that someone might assemble those stops into a coherent picture.