AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The Texas Department of Public Safety says it will regularly review traffic stop data to ensure minority motorists aren’t being stopped and searched at higher rates than white drivers.
DPS for years has asserted its troopers don’t conduct the illegal practice of profiling motorists based on race or ethnicity. But a review of 14 million DPS records from 2009 to 2015 by the Austin American-Statesman revealed that Hispanic motorists were 33 percent more likely to be searched than white drivers.
Black motorists, meanwhile, were more than twice as likely to be searched.
The Statesman reported that DPS Director Steve McCraw told a legislative panel Tuesday that he welcomes ideas to ensure profiling doesn’t happen.
DPS now will review traffic stops for each trooper, rather than assessing aggregate numbers.
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