March 10, 2009

2008 TRAFFIC CONTACT REPORT
The City Council will listen to a report by the Midland Police Department regarding the 2008 Traffic Contact Report at the March 10th City Council Meeting.  This is the seventh year of the report with the M.P.D. collecting data on all traffic contacts since 2002. 

In summary, the numbers reflected that: the percentage of Caucasians and Asians that came in contact with police in a traffic related incident where a citation was issued was lower than the comparison percentages; the percentage of African-Americans that came in contact with police in a traffic related incident where a citation was issued was higher than the comparison percentages; and the percentage of Hispanics that came in contact with police in a traffic related incident were a citation was issued was the same as the comparison percentage.  When comparing 2008 to previous years, there was an increase in percentage of contacts among Caucasians, while a decrease in percentage of contacts was detected among African American and Hispanic drivers.  Compared to 2007, searches in 2008 were down 3% for Caucasians, were up 4% for African Americans and remained unchanged for Hispanics.  Caucasians were arrested in 48% of traffic related contacts, compared to 29% for African Americans, and 23% for Hispanic. 

The M.P.D. complies with every requirement of the law.  The Midland Police Department is a professional police agency that does not condone racial profiling.  Employees are taught that racial profiling is unacceptable.  Employees continue to attend roll call and bi-annual, state mandated, racial profiling training.  All patrol cars are equipped with in-car video cameras, the majority of which are the newer digital equipment.  Policy states that all contacts are video and audio recorded.  Policy requires that the recordings be kept for 120 days and supervisors randomly review the recordings and report their findings in monthly reports. 

The department does not condone “exploratory” searches.  Since August 1, 2004, officers are required to articulate a reason, in writing, for asking for consent to search.  Although not required by law, the department has taken this step to ensure consent searches are not conducted because of the public’s lack of understanding of the law and their right to refuse a consent search.  If the officer is unable to articulate a reason for the consent request, the officer is not authorized to ask the owner for consent to conduct a search.

The department will continue to provide information on how to file a complaint in leaflet form and on the department’s website for those who feel they have been subjected to racial profiling.  As a department, we will continue to evaluate policy and procedures to insure public acceptance.  The department received one complaint during the year.  It was fully investigated and there was no indication of racial profiling found.

The department commissioned an audit of the seven years worth of Traffic Contact Data.

The audit showed that the department has been consistent with the racial/ethnic composition of motorists that it comes in contact with.  The audit concluded that the MPD has always been in compliance with the Texas Racial Profiling Law.

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