LAW TARGETING RACIAL PROFILING GIVES TRAFFIC STOPS GREATER SCRUTINY

BEAUMONT - A new state law aimed at eliminating racial profiling from
police department arrest criteria is also going to make prosecutions
easier, police administrators and prosecutors say.

The law adopted by the 77th Legislature uses patrol car video technology to
help combat racial profiling, the practice of stopping motorists or
pedestrians based on racial or ethnic stereotypes.

Senate Bill 1074 prohibits racial profiling and requires Texas law
enforcement agencies to adopt such a policy before Jan. 1, the first day
officers are mandated to start keeping track of stops resulting in either a
citation or an arrest.

The law also requires police agencies to provide racial profiling education
training and an established system for citizens to file complaints about
possible racial profiling.

To satisfy the letter of the law, meticulous record keeping or video- and
audiotaping of all traffic stops is required. Most agencies in Southeast
Texas have already complied by acquiring the video capabilities, if they
didn't already have them.

As a result, officers and prosecutors "have a much more accurate view of
what actually takes place," said Port Arthur City Manager Steve
Fitzgibbons, adding that the use of cameras also leads to higher conviction
rates.

Major Mark Blanton of the Port Arthur Police Department said the city
recently ordered 16 additional cameras, enough to outfit the entire regular
patrol fleet. Each camera unit costs about $4,400.

All of Beaumont's police vehicles used for patrol and traffic have been
equipped with video cameras, Beaumont Police Training Officer Teddy
Ratcliff said.

Beaumont Police Department has been videotaping traffic stops since the
mid-1990s, he said.

Ratcliff said the only vehicles not ready are the department's four
motorcycles and a few supervisors' vehicles. The department has 60 patrol
vehicles.

"Each motorcycle will be equipped with audio devices, which will bring the
motorcycles into compliance," Ratcliff said.

It has been difficult to locate video equipment that is feasible for
motorcycles, Ratcliff said.

If an agency does not have audio and visual equipment in the vehicles, then
a detailed report will have to be kept about each traffic stop.

The report will include race, gender and physical description of the person
or persons stopped, whether there was consent to search the vehicle and
whether the vehicle was searched.

A compilation of all stops made during the year will be presented to the
respective governing body of an agency's county or municipality by March 1
of the following year.

By 2003, each agency will have to have a "paper and pencil method, the
video and audio equipment or will have to have applied to the Department of
Public Safety for funds to get the equipment," Beaumont Police legal
adviser Dean Johnson said.

For small police agencies, such as Kountze Police Department, the record
keeping could become time-consuming.

The department currently has three patrol officers, a sergeant and a police
chief.

"However, we are upgrading our video equipment. We've had the equipment
installed for several years," Kountze Police Officer Tom Sisson said.

Video and audiotapes provide, in court, a more "cut and dried" version of
what really happens during a traffic stop, Sisson said.

"Police officers know the value of the tapes, especially for court cases,"
Johnson said. "However, the new law also protects the community."

If a person files an internal affairs complaint against a police officer,
the tape can be used in the investigation, Johnson said.

The Beaumont Police Department keeps tapes on file for 180 days. The new
law requires tapes be stored for 90 days.

"I think having the video equipment has improved the quality of police
officers in the field, because they know they are being taped," Johnson said.

One concern voiced by officers in Beaumont is that the new law could place
too much emphasis on skin color and downplay the importance of catching all
of the criminals.

"We are just trying to stop drug dealers and are not concerned with skin
color at all," said Maj. Roy Birdsong of the Jefferson County Narcotics
Task Force.

Many narcotic traffic stops are made in the evening when it is often
impossible to tell the color of a person's skin, especially if the
vehicle's windows are tinted, he said.

Police officials said it is also difficult to judge the race of a person
being stopped for speeding, where a radar dictates who is stopped and when.

"We stop anybody for speeding, regardless of race," Birdsong said.

The Narcotics Task Force and the Beaumont Police Department started taping
drug busts in the mid-1990s as a way of solidifying court cases.

However, Johnson said the videos would show more than just possible
profiling complaints, including people falling out of their cars during a
DWI arrest or running stop signs during high speed chases.

"When I get up on the witness stand in court, all I have to do is reach
over and pop in the tape," Birdsong said. "Then the jury can see exactly
what happened."