HPD WRITING FEWER TRAFFIC TICKETS UNDER NEW DATA-GATHERING POLICY

Houston police have issued thousands fewer traffic tickets than usual since
Chief C.O. Bradford ordered them to collect data on the age, race and sex of
every person they stop.

Bradford acknowledged that the drop is due at least in part to the policy
that went into effect Aug. 11. But he said the reduction in traffic
enforcement or ticket revenue is justified if it ensures that police
officers do not engage in "racial profiling" -- suspecting criminal behavior
because of an individual's race.

"I don't know how else this city or department can respond to allegations of
racial profiling without having enacted such a policy," Bradford said. "I
think this city is better off if the department or an individual officer can
answer questions about racial profiling."

Statistics show Houston police wrote 20 percent fewer tickets in August and
30 percent fewer in September, compared with the same months last year. The
number of tickets written was nearly 40,000 under the number for the
two-month period in 1998.

Some police officers have said they're now reluctant to initiate contact
with civilians, because they fear that an unfair or highly subjective
analysis of the data could result in unjustified accusations of racial
motivations in traffic stops.

"We have this new game, but we don't know any of the rules," said Hans
Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers Union. "I think some
officers wonder why they should jeopardize their careers and personal
finances if the rules or threshold for determining racial profiling have not
been established."

Marticiuc said the concerns are shared by officers of all races.

Bradford said he plans to meet with officers to evaluate the data forms and
possibly modify them to address officers' complaints.

In the memo announcing the policy, Bradford said he does not believe
officers use racial profiling and wanted to collect data to prove his
contention.

"Thus, the primary reason for data collection," Bradford wrote, "is to
substantiate the contention that the Houston Police Department and its
employees are eminently fair in the manner in which they provide police
services to the city."

Marticiuc said the new policy could result in increased crime. Traffic stops
often identify fugitives with outstanding warrants or criminal charges, or
those carrying illegal guns or drugs. Fewer stops mean fewer opportunities
to get those people off the street, Marticiuc said.

Bradford bristled at the suggestion that the policy might increase crime.
"For an officer not to intervene when there is reasonable suspicion or
probable cause of criminal activity is to ignore their oath of office," the
chief said.

Tens of thousands fewer tickets likely translates to millions of dollars
less traffic-fine revenue for the city, at a time when the city is
initiating spending cuts to counter a projected revenue shortfall.

About half of the projected shortfall already has been blamed on lower
traffic ticket revenue, and the steep drop-off this fall likely will
compound the problem.

Mayor Lee Brown is cutting expenses by $9.3 million this year, including
$2.1 million from the HPD.

While ticketing figures fluctuate from month to month and year to year, they
have averaged almost 70,000 per month since 1995, municipal court records
show. That compares with 59,585 in July, 59,096 in August, and 54,789 in
September of this year.

Bradford said the new data-gathering policy is one of three factors he
blames for the drop in traffic enforcement. The others are a recent loss of
grant money for traffic-related enforcement and a new policy requiring
officers to appear in court for trials of traffic cases they initiate.

Houston City Councilman Bruce Tatro said he was troubled that the
data-gathering policy was enacted without input from the City Council.

"I don't believe the ramifications of this policy were weighed fully," Tatro
said.

"It is almost like the city initiated expenditures without council approval.
If you have a program that takes money out of your revenue stream, it is a
de facto expenditure."

"I think if this was thought through, it would be understood that this
policy could create a stigma among officers who stop people," Tatro said.
"It puts an air of suspicion over their self-initiated stops."

In addressing his officers' worries about how the contact data will be
analyzed, Bradford has said he realizes that officers assigned, for example,
to patrol the city's Third Ward would have more contact with
African-Americans because more African-Americans live in that area than
other ethnic groups.

"Nobody in this town is going to grab that set of data and say you are
racially profiling because you are stopping predominantly
African-Americans," he said.

On the other hand, Bradford said, there would be cause for concern if an
officer had stopped 10 Hispanics and written all of them tickets while
pulling over five whites without issuing a citation.

Under the new policy, when an officer detains someone, he must fill out a
data sheet detailing the date, time and location of the contact, the reason
for the contact, the disposition of the contact, and the age, race and sex
of the person contacted. The reports will be used to form a database from
which reports will be generated for review by Bradford, police managers and
the department's Internal Affairs Division.

But Marticiuc said the statistical data alone don't give officers a way to
explain the reasons for whatever actions they took.

Bradford said the details not included in the forms may appear in incident
reports that police also file after an arrest.

Marticiuc said he doesn't believe Houston police engage in any extensive,
deliberate racial profiling. He bases his belief on data already available
from city traffic tickets, which include a box an officer checks to
designate the defendant's race.

He said records show that the racial breakdown of persons receiving
citations coincides with the racial proportions in the city's population.