Analysis
In 2001, the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 1074 which became the Texas Racial
Profiling Law. That is, the law came into effect on January 1, 2002 and required all police
departments in Texas, to collect traffic-related data and report this information to their local
governing authority by March 1 st of each year. In 2009, the racial profiling law was modified to
include the collection and reporting of all motor vehicle related contacts where a citation was
issued or arrest made. In addition, the modification to the law further requires that all police
officers indicate whether or not they knew the race or ethnicity of the individual before detaining
them. Further, it is required that agencies report motor vehicle related data to their local
governing authority and to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) by March 1st
of each year. The purpose in collecting and presenting this information is to determine if police
officers in a particular municipality are engaging in the practice of racially profiling minority
motorists.
The Texas Racial Profiling Law also requires police departments to interpret motor
vehicle-related data. Even though most researchers would probably agree with the fact that it is
within the confines of good practice for police departments to be accountable to the citizenry
while carrying a transparent image before the community, it is very difficult to determine if
individual police officers are engaging in racial profiling, from a review and analysis of
aggregate/institutional data. In other words, it is challenging for a reputable researcher to
identify specific “individual” racist behavior from aggregate-level “institutional” data on traffic
or motor vehicle-related contacts.
As stated previously, in 2009, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 3389, which
modified the existing Racial Profiling Law by adding new requirements; this took effect on
January 1st, 2010. These changes include, but are not exclusive of, the re-definition of a contact
to include motor vehicles where a citation was issued or an arrest made. In addition, it requires
police officers to indicate if they knew the race or ethnicity of the individual before detaining
them. Also, the 2009 law requires adding "middle eastern" to the racial and ethnic category and
submitting the annual data report to TCOLE before March 1st of each year. I am pleased to
inform you that these additional requirements have been addressed, since 2009, by the Arlington
Police Department as it is demonstrated throughout this report.
In 2017, the Texas Legislators passed H.B. 3051 which removed the Middle Eastern data
requirement but standardized the racial and ethnic categories relevant to the individuals that
came in contact with the police. In addition, the Sandra Bland Act (S.B. 1849) was passed and
became law. That is, the most significant legislative act in Texas history regarding future data
requirements on law enforcement contacts, became law and effective January 1, 2018. All future
reports will contain more extensive data entries and analysis as well as records regarding audits
and the analysis of searches, as required by law.