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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:34 pm
Time: 10:34 pm
Results for racial profiling in law enforcement (texas)
1 results foundAuthor: Totman, Molly Title: Searching for Consent: An Analysis of Racial Profiling Data in Texas Summary: The Texas Legislature in 2001 required law enforcement agencies to annually report detailed statistics concerning the race of individuals stopped and searched in their jurisdictions. However, the law did not create a statewide repository for the reports or provide any mechanism for analyzing the data on a statewide level. The Campaign to End Racial Profiling at the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) fills that role. This is the third year that TCJC – in conjunction with allies from the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU of Texas), Texas State Conference of branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Texas NAACP), and League of United Latin American Citizens of Texas (Texas LULAC) – have conducted annual studies of statewide racial profiling data. Previously, we have released reports detailing racial disparities in stop and search rates by Texas law enforcement agencies. Specifically, we have analyzed how much more likely Blacks and Latinos are to be stopped or searched than Anglos. In this study, we have chosen to concentrate on consent search data only, thereby eliminating from the analysis searches outside of an officer’s discretion. We are focusing only on situations in which the officer opted to conduct a search of his or her own volition rather than situations in which the officer was duty-bound to do so (e.g., in instances of probable cause or cases where the individual was arrested or had an outstanding warrant). We are also providing local governments and the Texas Legislature with more insight into the extent and ramifications of consent searches. At the conclusion of the 2005 Texas Legislative Session, Governor Rick Perry vetoed Senate Bill 1195, which would have required police officers to obtain a driver’s written or recorded consent before conducting a consent search of a vehicle. Governor Perry wrote in his veto message that “there is insufficient information available at this time to determine whether signed or taped consent requirements place too onerous a burden on law enforcement or provide additional protections to the public. I would expect members of the legislature to review this issue during the interim and to bring back their findings to the 80th legislative session.” Our analysis reveals that consent search practices vary widely by department. Some departments continue to search minorities at higher rates than Anglos; some departments search all races much more often than other agencies. These are significant conclusions in light of previous research finding consent searches to be an inefficient police practice, rarely resulting in findings of wrongdoing, and merely redirecting officers’ energy away from preventing crimes. To begin our analysis, we sent open records requests to 233 departments that issued 3,000 or more citations in 2003. We received 229 timely responses with usable data provided by 201 departments. These departments represent the largest citation-issuing law enforcement agencies in Texas and account for over 4.5 million traffic stops. We analyzed each contributing department’s self-reported statistics as well as the quality of the reports produced in order to better inform policy leaders, law enforcement agencies, and community members as they address the problem and perception of racial profiling, along with localized, general searching practices and policies. Details: Austin, TX: Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, 2006. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 14, 2011 at: http://www.criminaljusticecoalition.org/files/userfiles/publicsafety/Racial_Profiling_Data_2006_Analysis_of_Search_and_Consent_Policies_in_Texas.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://www.criminaljusticecoalition.org/files/userfiles/publicsafety/Racial_Profiling_Data_2006_Analysis_of_Search_and_Consent_Policies_in_Texas.pdf Shelf Number: 121343 Keywords: Discrimination in Law EnforcementPolice AttitudesRace and CrimeRacial Profiling in Law Enforcement (Texas)Searches and Seizures |