10 Mar 2016
In a recent blog article (Cops Accused of Misrepresenting Race on Traffic Stops), we advised our readers that officers of the Austin Police Department had been accused of recording the wrong race of some of the people who were the subject of traffic stops. In most of the cases, this “mistake” had been to show the person stopped as being white, when in fact that person was Hispanic.
The issue is not merely one of semantics, or some highly technical issue that has no real effect on how the APD operates. As we pointed out in our earlier article, the misrepresentation of race in traffic stops can have a significant impact on racial profiling statistics. Simply put, if the race of those stopped is inaccurately reported, the racial profiling statistics will be seriously flawed.
After the revelations about the data collection mistakes, APD Chief Art Acevedo ordered that an independent audit be conducted to examine the issue in detail. Dr. Alex del Carmen, executive director of the Criminal Justice School at Tarleton State University was hired to perform the audit. Dr. Carmen concluded that the department was not in compliance with the Texas laws on racial profiling because of the inaccurate raw data being used, specifically noting that officers are inaccurately reporting Hispanics and other minorities as white.
APD accused of racial bias in car searches
This is not the end of the problem, of course. From an information-gathering perspective, the goal is to begin with an accurate tally of traffic stops, including the race of the person stopped. Based on the results of that tally, you may or may not conclude that racial profiling is an issue in traffic stops. All of which brings us to another report just issued concerning apparent racial bias in searches incident to a traffic stop. Here are the newest figures on your chances of being searched during the course of a traffic stop:
- African Americans – 1 out of 6
- Hispanic – 1 out of 9
- White – 1 out of 22
And as lopsided and telling as those numbers are, what is really amazing is that they are based on the flawed numbers recorded by the APD. Using accurate numbers, the disparity would be even greater!
Law Office of David D. White, PLLC
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Austin, TX 78701
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