January 27, 2018
Arlington City Council
P.O. Box 393
Arlington, Texas 75154
Dear Distinguished Members of the City Council,
The Texas Legislature, with the intent of addressing the issue of racial profiling in policing,
enacted in 2001 the Texas Racial Profiling Law. Since then, 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 were implemented. Moreover, in 2017, the Sandra Bland Act was
passed and signed into law (along with HB 3051 which introduced new racial and ethnic
designations). The Sandra Bland Act requires all law enforcement agencies in the state to collect
additional data and provide a more detailed analysis.
This particular report contains three sections with 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 as well as the Sandra Bland Act. 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 1/1/17 and 12/31/17. 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