AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: The related video was published on Jan. 30, 2020, regarding racial profiling data from between 2015 and 2018.
Caucasians accounted for the majority of traffic stops in 2019, according to the Austin Police Department's newly released racial profiling report, marking a noticeable change from a report released in January.
The report, released Friday, analyzed a total of 139,051 traffic stops, of which race was known prior to the stop 5,377 times.
RELATED:
The report shows:
Gender
- Female - 53,144
- Male - 85,907
Race/ethnicity
- Black - 19,520
- Asian/Pacific Islander - 8,020
- Hispanic/Latino - 45,755
- White - 65,704
- Alaska Native/American Indian - 52
Was race or ethnicity known prior to stop?
- Yes - 5,377
- No - 133,674
Reason for stop?
- Violation of law - 19,923
- Preexisting knowledge - 332
- Moving traffic violation - 104,053
- Vehicle traffic violation - 14,743
Street address or approximate location of the stop
- City street - 97,151
- US highway - 26,773
- County road - 0
- State highway - 15,127
- Private property or other - 0
Was a search conducted?
- Yes - 9,446
- No - 129,605
Reason for search?
- Consent - 44
- Contraband - 87
- Probable - 3,496
- Inventory - 579
- Incident to arrest - 5,240
Was Contraband discovered?
- Yes - 2,595
- No - 6,851
Description of contraband drugs
- Drugs - 1,009
- Currency - 391
- Weapons - 235
- Alcohol - 102
- Stolen property - 0
- Other - 858
Result of the stop
- Verbal warning - 11,281
- Written warning - 68,277
- Citation - 51,688
- Written warning and arrest - 0
- Citation and arrest - 74
- Arrest - 7,731
Arrest based on
- Violation of penal code - 5,211
- Violation of traffic law - 412
- Violation of city ordinance - 4
- Outstanding warrant - 2,104
Was physical force resulting in bodily injury used during stop?
- Yes - 94
- No - 138,957
According to the report, there were eight formal complaints and 40 informal complaints of racial profiling reported to the Internal Affairs Division in 2019. This compares to four formal and nine informal complaints in 2018. The results of those complaints can be seen here.
According to the January report, traffic stop data analyzed by the City of Austin between 2015 and 2018 determined that people of color were pulled over at higher rates.
Some notable statistics from 2018 included:
- Black/African Americans were overrepresented by 17%
- Hispanic/Latinos were overrepresented by 12%
- Caucasians were underrepresented by 23%
- Asians were underrepresented by 6%
In 2019, however, more Caucasians were stopped than Black/African American people and Hispanic/Latino people combined.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: