STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State University's Institute for Predictive Analytics in Criminal Justice has published its annual report on racial profiling data in Texas, finding the likelihood of various races to be cited or searched by police.
“This report on racial profiling data in policing offers another year of analysis while adding to the emerging context on the issue of racial profiling in Texas,” said Alex del Carmen, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts and the founder and director of IPAC in a statement. “The report generates actionable recommendations for legislators and the law enforcement executives to consider in an attempt to continue improving on the prevention of racial profiling practices.”
Some of the most significant findings of the report include a higher likelihood of Hispanics to be searched, but that they were less likely than white people to be found in possession of contraband. While Hispanics were 1.5 times more likely than white people to be searched, the data shows, the contraband hit rate for Hispanics was 34.4%, lower than the hit rate for white people at 45.6%.
"Thinking about contraband hit rates can be somewhat counterintuitive," the report states. "That is, a high hit rate means officers were fairly good at determining when a search is likely to produce contraband. Conversely, a low hit rate means officers were poor at deciding when a search is likely to produce contraband. Thus, a lower hit rate may indicate that officers were merely guessing, rather than having evidential reasons for the search."
Black people and Hispanics were also found to be slightly more likely to be cited by police than white people, and also more likely to be subjected to consent searches.
Data found just about 0.1% of all motor vehicle stops involved the use of physical force by police, about 9,298 stops. Of those, Hispanics accounted for the most at 35.1%, followed by white people at 31.9% and Black people at 31.3%.
IPAC suggested a number of recommendations to the state in the report, including that law enforcement agencies be required to report all consent search denials to better capture data on those who lawfully decline them. They also recommended the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement amend its curriculum to focus not just on how racial profiling can occur before the vehicle stop, but also during the stop once the officer knows the race of the driver.
To see the full report, click here.
