Profiling the Police

On Jan. 23, the ACLU of Texas and the Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition released a joint report that summarizes progress made in implementing SB 1074, Texas' new racial profiling law. Of the 271 law enforcement agencies that replied to the ACLU's survey (out of 900 agencies statewide), nearly half have "successfully" implemented the new racial profiling policies, and 48% of those got an "A" grade for their efforts. Locally, the Travis County Sheriff's Office got an "A," but the Austin Police Dept. did not respond. ACLU Director Will Harrell said he doesn't hold that against them. "We have a long-standing dialogue with [APD]," he said. "I think it was just an omission because they assumed we already had the information." Generally, the ACLU is "optimistic and encouraged" by the report. "I think [30% is] a good basis for a sampling. But it does beg the question: Did the other departments not respond because they don't respect the Open Records Act or the profiling law itself?"