RACE DISPARITY FOUND IN TRAFFIC STOPS

Blacks Get More Tickets In Some Counties; DPS Says Study Flawed

AUSTIN - Black drivers are disproportionately ticketed by state troopers in
dozens of counties, in some places drawing twice the citations expected for
their population, a statistical study by The Dallas Morning News shows.

Graphic Traffic tickets and race Related story Minority drivers' search
risk higher

Looking at 1999 traffic tickets written by troopers, the study compared the
percentage of tickets issued, by race, with the racial demographics of the
county where they were issued.

Statewide, blacks received about the same proportion of tickets - 10
percent - as their statewide driving-age population, 11 percent.

But in 26 mostly rural counties blacks received at least twice the number
of tickets that would be statistically expected for their population.

Civil-rights leaders who studied the findings said the numbers confirmed
what they have suspected for years, that black motorists are targeted by
law enforcement along state highways - a practice known as racial profiling.

"There's no way you can explain this level of variation except there's got
to be some kind of intent involved," said Gary Bledsoe, an Austin lawyer
and president of the state NAACP.

But others who studied the figures, including statistics professors, said
no conclusions about racial profiling can be drawn because a key element is
missing: the number of minority drivers on any given highway.

Nevertheless, Mr. Bledsoe said, the findings are enough to warrant an
independent study.

James Francis, chairman of the Department of Public Safety Board, said he
believes the newspaper's study is fundamentally flawed and does not show
racial profiling.

He said it is unfair to compare ticketed drivers with county residents
because highway travelers might be from another place.

"I'm not going to start a massive investigation unless and until there is
some indication that something is going on," Mr. Francis said.

Working with Dr. Tom Sager, a University of Texas mathematics professor,
The News analyzed the approximately 895,000 tickets issued by DPS officers
last year.

Dr. Sanger constructed a model with a 95 percent accuracy of how many
tickets statistically would be expected for blacks and whites based on
their population in the county. DPS officers did not denote Hispanic
drivers, and therefore Hispanics could not be included in the study.

The study of the state's 254 counties also excluded 61 counties with black
populations less than 1 percent, where comparisons would not be
statistically meaningful.

Among the findings:

- - In 84 of 193 counties, blacks received more tickets than expected,
compared with 28 counties where whites received more tickets than
anticipated. Where ticketing appeared unfavorable to whites, it was not at
the elevated levels experienced by blacks.

- - In 26 counties, blacks received at least double the number of tickets
expected. Five of those counties do not have an interstate highway.

- - In 11 East Texas counties, one in every four tickets was handed to black
motorists. The black population for those counties averaged 13.8 percent.

Racial profiling has developed into a contentious issue nationwide, with
several states outlawing it. Official studies have been commissioned on the
practices of numerous police agencies, with methodology often part of the
debate.

Dr. John Lamberth of Temple University, a leading expert on racial
profiling studies, said research aimed at detecting racial profiling
ideally considers the racial makeup of the drivers on the roadway. The
state of Texas does not compile such statistics.

Without that information, The News' survey may not have rendered
statistically meaningful conclusions. Still, he said, the study has "gone
at it the right way."

Other factors to consider

Other factors ought to be considered when analyzing statistics for racial
profiling, he said.

"For instance, we know blacks tend to drive less and have fewer cars than
whites," he said, citing a National Transportation survey. Therefore,
blacks are likely to be underrepresented on a given highway compared with
their population, he said.

Also, those traveling on county roads are more likely to be representative
of the local population than those on interstate highways, he said.

In March, the DPS began its own data collection, asking all officers to
document each traffic stop. The officers are required to report several
things, including the race and gender of the driver and whether a ticket
was issued.

On Tuesday, the department released the first five months of statistics
from that study. It showed that Hispanic and black drivers who are stopped
by DPS troopers are twice as likely to be searched as white motorists who
are stopped.

The data-collection program was started after the DPS suspended seven East
Texas officers for racial insensitivity, including a trooper who wore a Ku
Klux Klan T-shirt and two others who made racist remarks.

When the department issued the suspensions, Mr. Francis said he would not
abide acts of discrimination.

"I said zero tolerance, and I meant zero tolerance," Mr. Francis said in
response to The News' study. "I'm saying this [ticketing pattern] is not an
indication of racism."

Mr. Francis and the other two DPS board members were appointed by Gov.
George W. Bush, who has made inclusiveness a major part of his campaign
platform.

Mr. Francis said he applauds The News' research but challenges the
findings. Transient populations

He said the DPS' analysis of the figures compiled and analyzed by The News,
which were also provided to the department, suggests that the high
incidence of blacks being ticketed in some counties probably reflects the
transient populations moving down interstate highways.

He said the ticketing of blacks in East Texas is harder to explain and
seems to be concentrated along U.S. Highway 59.

"It is a major corridor from Houston to the northeast. We make a lot of
traffic stops. Probably a disproportionate share of them are out-of-state
license plates," Mr. Francis said.

"If we've got a problem, I want to own up to it, and I want to fix it," he
said.

The DPS used The News' statistics to compile its own maps, traffic data and
breakdowns, but Mr. Francis declined to share those with The News.

He said he is unaware of any complaints of racial profiling. He said he
believes minority troopers would break rank and complain to superiors if
the problem existed.

DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said the department does not track civilian
letters or complaints by subjects, such as racial profiling.

"A lot of time they're venting. Many times they do not believe they
deserved a ticket, and that may include that he or she believes they were
stopped because they are white or black," Ms. Mange said.

Jay Jacobsen, legal director of Texas' American Civil Liberties Union
chapter, said last year that his central Texas office received 42
complaints from motorists saying they were stopped by law-enforcement
officers because of their race.

"It's significant," he said of the number.

He said the study shows a problem, and that examinations in other states,
such as Maryland and New Jersey, have shown a pattern of blacks being
stopped and questioned at much higher rates than whites, without ever being
given tickets.

"Why should Texas be different?" he asked.

The 'five senses'

Ms. Mange said the DPS does not train officers to look for certain cars or
characteristics for criminal interdiction. She said officers are told to
"use their five senses" to find drugs or other illegal activity only after
a vehicle already is stopped for a traffic infraction or equipment problems.

Mr. Jacobsen said he believes racial profiling happens frequently in
"unthinking ways."

He said everyone has their own racial biases and that officers are no
different.

Maelene Brooks, who requested that her maiden name be used, said she
frequently visits her daughter in Beaumont, using State Highway 96.

She said that while driving her Grand Cherokee, she was stopped three times
last summer by DPS officers and cited once for going 60 mph in a 55-mph zone.

The other two times, she believes, she was doing nothing wrong but was
singled out because she's black and was driving a nice car.

"I haven't gotten over that fear," she said.

She works as a correctional officer.

After being pulled over for the third time, she said, she gave the Cherokee
to her daughter and bought herself a more modest car. She hasn't been
stopped since.

Personal experience

Mr. Bledsoe, the state NAACP president, also said he has been stopped
several times while driving in East Texas.

Twice in the last several years, he said, he has been stopped and
questioned by a DPS officer. Twice, he said, he was pulled over while
driving 5 mph under the speed limit - once in Fayette County while driving
home from a Houston Astros game, the other time in Smith County.

"I think the DPS needs to have a serious, independent investigation," he said.

He said that he does not believe DPS administrators condone racial
profiling but that it is difficult for any organization to critically
assess itself.

"Slight discrepancies can be expected of a couple of percent, but those of
the magnitude of many of the counties here defy that explanation and are
clearly the result of pure, unadulterated racial motivations," Mr. Bledsoe
said.

Dallas Morning News researcher Rob Giacobbe contributed to this report.