DPS searches Hispanics more, finds less, Statesman analysis shows
Over the past five years, Hispanic motorists stopped by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were 33 percent more likely to be searched than white drivers. Yet those inspections were less likely to result in the discovery of drugs, weapons or illegal currency than the searches performed on white drivers.
During the same period, troopers discovered contraband on African-American men searched during traffic stops at slightly higher rates than white men. Yet a black man pulled over by the Texas state police was also more than twice as likely to be searched as a white man.
The disparities were revealed in an American-Statesman analysis of 15 million records representing every DPS traffic stop between the beginning of 2009 and July 2015. The examination represents the most detailed picture yet of the intersection of race and traffic stops performed statewide by Texas’ largest law enforcement agency.
For more than a decade, DPS reports have said troopers treat motorists of different races equally, according to agency reviews of traffic stop data. But after the Statesman presented its findings to DPS, a spokesman said late last week that the agency would hire a contractor to review the way DPS officials collect and analyze traffic stop data.
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