Summary of Findings
The comparison of motor vehicle contacts showed that the Arlington Police
Department came in contact (in motor vehicle-related incidents) with a smaller
percentage of Caucasian and Asian drivers than the percentage that resided in DFW and
had access to vehicles. Further, the data suggested that the percentage of African
American and Hispanic drivers that came in contact with the police in 2014 was higher
than the percentage of African American and Hispanic households in DFW with access to
vehicles. In addition, the data showed that in a large number of instances, officers did not
know the race or ethnicity of individuals before detaining them, when compared to
instances where officers knew the race/ethnicity of individuals before they were detained.
While considering the findings made in this analysis, it is recommended that the
Arlington Police Department should continue to collect and evaluate additional
information on motor vehicle contact data (i.e., reason for probable cause searches,
contraband detected) which may prove to be useful when determining the nature of the
contacts police officers are making with all individuals; particularly with African
Americans and Hispanics. Although this additional data may not be required by state
law, it is likely to provide insights regarding the nature and outcome of all motor vehicle
contacts made with the public.
As part of this effort, the Arlington Police Department is also encouraged to:
1) Perform an independent search analysis on the search data collected in the
first quarter of 2015.
2) Commission data audits in 2015 in order to assess data integrity; that is, to
ensure that the data collected is consistent with the data being reported.
The Arlington Police Department has complied with the Texas Racial Profiling
Law.
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