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Report: Racial disparities in traffic stops

AUSTIN (AP) — Blacks and Hispanics are significantly more likely to be pulled over in Texas by law enforcement officers, according to a study released Tuesday that reviewed data from more than 400 agencies across the state.

More disturbing to civil rights activists, minorities are more likely than whites to be searched following routine traffic stops by six of every seven departments in Texas, according to the study.

The report used information that officers are required to record after each traffic stop, under a racial profiling law passed in 2001. The law also requires Texas’ 1,500-plus law enforcement agencies to install and use video recording equipment in patrol cars, document all stops, create a complaint process, educate the public and file reports with the state.

The results, “on concrete, objective facts provided to us by police departments, demonstrate what we’ve known for years to be a fact: Racial profiling exists and it’s a problem,” said Will Harrell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

The report was commissioned by the Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, the Texas ACLU, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches.

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