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APD's 2019 racial profiling data shows improvements from January report

However, the report shows more complaints were filed in 2019 than in 2018.

AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: The related video was published on Jan. 30, 2020, regarding racial profiling data from between 2015 and 2018.

Caucasians accounted for the majority of traffic stops in 2019, according to the Austin Police Department's newly released racial profiling report, marking a noticeable change from a report released in January.

The report, released Friday, analyzed a total of 139,051 traffic stops, of which race was known prior to the stop 5,377 times.

RELATED: 

People of color stopped and arrested by APD at higher rates, report finds

Travis County Sheriff's Office releases 2019 racial profiling report

The report shows:

Gender 

  • Female - 53,144 
  • Male - 85,907 

Race/ethnicity

  • Black - 19,520 
  • Asian/Pacific Islander - 8,020 
  • Hispanic/Latino - 45,755 
  • White - 65,704
  • Alaska Native/American Indian - 52 

Was race or ethnicity known prior to stop?

  • Yes - 5,377 
  • No - 133,674 

Reason for stop? 

  • Violation of law - 19,923 
  • Preexisting knowledge - 332 
  • Moving traffic violation - 104,053 
  • Vehicle traffic violation - 14,743 

Street address or approximate location of the stop

  • City street - 97,151 
  • US highway - 26,773 
  • County road - 0 
  • State highway - 15,127 
  • Private property or other - 0 

Was a search conducted?

  • Yes - 9,446 
  • No - 129,605 

Reason for search?

  • Consent - 44 
  • Contraband - 87 
  • Probable - 3,496 
  • Inventory - 579 
  • Incident to arrest - 5,240 

Was Contraband discovered?

  • Yes - 2,595 
  • No - 6,851 

Description of contraband drugs

  • Drugs - 1,009 
  • Currency - 391 
  • Weapons - 235 
  • Alcohol - 102 
  • Stolen property - 0 
  • Other - 858 

Result of the stop

  • Verbal warning - 11,281 
  • Written warning - 68,277 
  • Citation - 51,688
  • Written warning and arrest - 0 
  • Citation and arrest - 74 
  • Arrest - 7,731 

Arrest based on

  • Violation of penal code - 5,211 
  • Violation of traffic law - 412 
  • Violation of city ordinance - 4
  • Outstanding warrant - 2,104 

Was physical force resulting in bodily injury used during stop?

  • Yes - 94 
  • No - 138,957

According to the report, there were eight formal complaints and 40 informal complaints of racial profiling reported to the Internal Affairs Division in 2019. This compares to four formal and nine informal complaints in 2018. The results of those complaints can be seen here.

According to the January report, traffic stop data analyzed by the City of Austin between 2015 and 2018 determined that people of color were pulled over at higher rates. 

Some notable statistics from 2018 included:

  • Black/African Americans were overrepresented by 17%
  • Hispanic/Latinos were overrepresented by 12%
  • Caucasians were underrepresented by 23%
  • Asians were underrepresented by 6%

In 2019, however, more Caucasians were stopped than Black/African American people and Hispanic/Latino people combined. 

RELATED: 'Multi-pronged' investigation into bigotry, discrimination within Austin police approved by city council

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