According to a recent report released by the city of Austin, despite making up approximately 8% of the city’s population, drivers who are black make up approximately 15% of those who are pulled over by police, as well as 25% of those who are arrested.
The chief of research at MEASURE, which is a nonprofit organization that uses data analysis to help with combating all sorts of social disparities, was quoted as stating the following regarding this:
“The data really wasn’t a surprise. It was more a confirmation of something that we already knew was happening.”
The report itself came from Austin’s Office of Police Oversight, Office of Innovation and Equity Office, which used data on motor vehicle stops that had been collected by the Austin Police Department between the years 2015 and 2018.
The report further detailed information regarding Hispanic drivers as well. More specifically, while Hispanics make up approximately 31% of the city’s population, drivers who are Hispanic make up approximately 44% of those who are both pulled over and searched by police.
A Police Monitor with the city of Austin, who says that their office worked closely with the police department in helping to analyze all of the data and was aware of the results, was quoted as stating the following:
“We need more analysis to identify the why. I think it’s clear the disparities exist. But that’s not good enough.”
Responding to the report, the chief of the Austin Police Department stated that he would like to have a third party conduct another data analysis in order to better understand why these types of racial disparities exist in the first place, citing a Stanford University study conducted on Oakland, California police involving researchers studying body camera footage that had been captured by a total of 510 police officers. That particular study discovered that black drivers were more likely to be both searched and arrested after being pulled over by police, similar to what had already been taking place in Austin.
The report from the City of Austin lays out its own specific recommendations for the police department, which includes getting involved whenever data shows that officers appear to over-police people who are black and/or Hispanic. This is a move that the police chief agrees with. Furthermore, the report also recommends that all employees of the police department receive ongoing racial equality training as well.
The founder of the Austin Justice Coalition had the following to say regarding the situation:
“We now 100% know that there is a racial bias problem in policing, and the most important next steps are laid out: acknowledge that we have a problem, identify the officers most in need of interventions, expand implicit bias training, and report to Council how much our problem is costing.”
The report in Austin comes as the city’s police department is being hit with accusations of racism at their highest possible level. In fact, the results of an ongoing investigation into both the current and former assistant chief are expected to come sometime next month. Back in December, Austin City Council officially voted for a more wide-reaching investigation into alleged bigotry among members of the police department. This included an audit of the social media posts coming from many of the police officers.
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