In 2001, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1074, which later became the Texas Racial Profiling Law.  This particular law, which became effective January 1, 2002, requires that all police departments in the state collect traffic-related data and report this information to their local governing authority by March 1^st of each year.  The purpose in collecting and presenting this information is to determine if a police officer is engaging in the practice of profiling minority motorists.

            The Huntsville Police Department, in an effort to comply with the Texas Racial Profiling Law (S.B. 1074), conducted an analysis of its 2006 traffic contact data. Three different types of analyses were conducted.  The first of these involved a careful evaluation of the 2006 traffic contact data.  This particular analysis measured, as required by S.B. 1074, the number and percentage of Caucasians, Africans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, and individuals belonging to the “other” category, that came in contact with the police and were issued a citation after an initial traffic-related contact, in 2006 (See Table I). The data does not include information on stops which resulted in a warning only or those stops which resulted in arrest only.  In addition, the analysis included information relevant to the number and percentage of searches while indicating the type of search performed (i.e., consensual or probable cause).  Finally, the data analyses highlighted the number and percentage of individuals who, as a result of the contact, were arrested.

The second type of analysis was based on a comparison of the 2006 traffic contact data with a particular baseline. When reviewing this particular analysis, one should keep in mind that there is a great deal of disagreement in the academic literature regarding the type/form of baseline to be used when analyzing traffic-related contact information.  Several civil rights organizations in Texas have expressed their desire and made recommendations that all police departments use, in their analysis, the Fair Roads Standard.  This contains census data specific to the number of “households” that have access to vehicles, thus proposing to compare “households” (which may have multiple residents and only a few vehicles) with “contacts” (an individual-based count).  Based upon these organizations’ recommendations and those of our consultant/auditor, the Huntsville Police Department made the decision to use this form of comparison.  In addition, the contact data was compared to the 2000 U.S. Census population data (adjusted to exclude the prison population).  Thus, the Fair Roads Standard and U.S. Census data obtained and used in this study is specifically relevant to Huntsville.

The final analysis was conducted while using the 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 traffic contact data.  Specifically, all traffic-related contacts made in 2006 were compared to similar figures reported in 2002-2005. 

(Table III)

Five-Year Tier 1 Data Comparison*

Comparison of Five Year Traffic-Related Contact Information (1/1/02---12/31/06)

Race/ Ethnicity**	Traffic-Related Contacts					Searches					Arrests
	(2002)	(2003)	(2004)	(2005	(2006)	(2002)	(2003)	(2004)	(2005)	(2006)	(2002)	(2003)	(2004)	(2005)	(2006)
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Caucasian	67.00	63.27	63.47	62.85	62.61	47.06	47.32	52.35	48.12	45.57	57.77	53.75	54.22	48.58	50.00
African	26.61	29.46	29.55	26.13	27.62	38.82	40.18	38.82	42.11	50.63	33.25	36.50	39.51	38.06	50.00
Hispanic	6.10	6.88	6.40	10.49	8.54	14.12	12.50	8.82	9.77	3.78	8.98	9.75	6.27	13.16	0
Asian	0.21	0.16	0.32	0.46	0.39	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.20	0
Native American	0.03	0.10	0.05	0	0.05	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0.03	0.13	0.23	0.07	0.29	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total***	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

 

* Significant changes in data collection and reporting occurred with the 2006 data as a result of an outside audit; thus, the value of comparison with prior years’ data is limited.  See “Analysis and Interpretation of Data” section of report for details of changes.

** Race/Ethnicity is defined by Senate Bill 1074 as being of a “particular descent, including Caucasian, African, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American”.

*** Figure has been rounded.