Blacks, Hispanics more likely to be pulled over
A new study shows black and Hispanic people are more likely to be pulled over than white people in Texas. The report, commissioned by the Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition and other minority groups, was released Tuesday in Austin.[...]
The Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, the Texas ACLU, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the state's NAACP branches requested the traffic stop data from more than 400 agencies across the state.
"This report confirms everything that we've known for years. That people of color are disproportionately likely to be stopped and searched by the police department," Harrell said.
The study found about three of every four law enforcement agencies reported stopping blacks and Hispanics at higher rates than whites.
Following a traffic stop about six out of every seven law enforcement agencies reported searching the vehicles of black and Latinos at higher rates than whites.
[...]
Groups who commissioned the report hope their work will be the first step toward eliminating the profiling.
The group is planning a dozen town hall meetings in cities across the state. They'll talk about the report with city leaders and come up with ways to put a stop to racial profiling.
Copyright ©2004TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin
I may read the report later and post some thoughts. It may be useful to consult the Texas DPS crime stats after reading it, as I am fairly certain both hispanics and blacks are involved with crime more often than caucasians.
It looks like Comal County and New Braunfels didn't submit data. The results for the Austin Police Department were 2.3 and 2.2 times as likely to search blacks and hispanics more than anglos. Travis County Sheriff's Department was 1.8 and 1.8 times as likely to search blacks and hispanics than anglos. For traffic stop rates, APD was 1.8 and 1.5 times more likely to pull over blacks and hispanics than anglos. TCSD was 0.9 and 0.3 times as likely to pull over blacks and hispanics compared to whites.
All of this data was collected as the result of Texas Senate Bill 1074, passed in 2001.
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