February 7, 2014
Arlington City Council
101 W. Abram Street
Arlington, Texas 76010
Dear Distinguished Members of the City Council,
The Texas Legislature, with the intent of addressing the issue of racial profiling
in policing, enacted the Texas Racial Profiling Law in 2001. The Arlington Police
Department, in accordance with the law, has collected and reported traffic and motor
vehicle-related contact data for the purpose of identifying and addressing (if necessary)
areas of concern regarding racial profiling practices. In the 2009 Texas legislative
session, the Racial Profiling Law was modified and additional requirements are now in
place. These most recent requirements have been incorporated by the Arlington Police
Department and are also being addressed in this report.
In this report, you will find three sections that contain information on traffic and
motor vehicle- related contact data. In addition, when appropriate, documentation is also
a component of this report, aiming at demonstrating the manner in which the Arlington
Police Department has complied with the Texas Racial Profiling Law. In section 1, you
will find the table of contents in addition to the Texas Senate Bill (SB1074); which later
became the Texas Racial Profiling Law. In addition, you will find the Texas HB 3389,
which, in 2009, introduced new requirements relevant to racial profiling. Also, in this
section, a list of requirements relevant to the Racial Profiling Law as established by
TCOLE (Texas Commission on Law Enforcement) is included. In addition, you will
find, in sections 2 and 3 documentation, which demonstrates compliance by the Arlington
Police Department relevant to the requirements as established in the Texas Racial
Profiling Law. That is, you will find documents relevant to the implementation of an
institutional policy banning racial profiling, the incorporation of a racial profiling
complaint process and the training administered to all law enforcement personnel.
The last section of this report provides statistical data relevant to contacts, made
during the course of motor vehicle stops, between 1/1/13 and 12/31/13. In addition, this
section contains the TCOLE Tier 2 form, which is required to be submitted to this
particular organization by March 1 st of each year. The data in this report has been
analyzed and compared to data derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Fair Roads
Standard. The final analysis and recommendations are also included in this report.
The findings in this report serve as evidence of the Arlington Police Department’s
commitment to comply with the Texas Racial Profiling Law.
Sincerely,
Alex del Carmen, Ph.D.
Del Carmen Consulting, LLC