Guidelines for Compiling and Reporting Data under Senate Bill 1074
Background
Senate Bill 1074 of the 77 th Legislature established requirements in the Texas Code of Criminal
Procedure (TCCP) for law enforcement agencies. The Commission developed this document to
assist agencies in complying with the statutory requirements.
The guidelines are written in the form of standards using a style developed from accreditation
organizations including the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies
(CALEA). The standards provide a description of what must be accomplished by an agency but
allows wide latitude in determining how the agency will achieve compliance with each
applicable standard.
Each standard is composed of two parts: the standard statement and the commentary. The
standard statement is a declarative sentence that places a clear-cut requirement, or multiple
requirements, on an agency. The commentary supports the standard statement but is not binding.
The commentary can serve as a prompt, as guidance to clarify the intent of the standard, or as an
example of one possible way to comply with the standard.
Standard 1
Each law enforcement agency has a detailed written directive that:
clearly defines acts that constitute racial profiling;
strictly prohibits peace officers employed by the agency from engaging in racial
profiling;
implements a process by which an individual may file a complaint with the agency if the
individual believes a peace officer employed by the agency has engaged in racial
profiling with respect to the individual filing the complaint;
provides for public education relating to the complaint process;
requires appropriate corrective action to be taken against a peace officer employed by the
agency who, after investigation, is shown to have engaged in racial profiling in violation
of the agency’s written racial profiling policy; and
requires the collection of certain types of data for subsequent reporting.
Commentary
Article 2.131 of the TCCP prohibits officers from engaging in racial profiling, and article 2.132 of the TCCP now
requires a written policy that contains the elements listed in this standard. The article also specifically defines a law
enforcement agency as it applies to this statute as an “agency of the state, or of a county, municipality, or other
political subdivision of the state, that employs peace officers who make traffic stops in the routine performance of
the officers’ official duties.”
The article further defines race or ethnicity as being of “a particular descent, including Caucasian, African, Hispanic,
Asian, or Native American.” The statute does not limit the required policies to just these ethnic groups.
This written policy is to be adopted and implemented no later than January 1, 2002.
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