SJC Exchange Library

The pages that follow present analyses of APD traffic stops and searches, as well as APD officers’ use of force, for the calendar years 2014 and 2015. For both yearly analyses we isolate race and ethnicity, exploring differences in practices and modeling these outcomes of interest while controlling for competing factors, such as place-specific crime rates. The raw data point to disparate treatment of Austin citizens based on race and ethnicity in vehicle stops and in use of force. For use-of-force incidents, black and Hispanic communities remain more likely to experience use of force than white communities after adjusting for community-level differences in crime and poverty.

These findings demonstrate that even in an agency such as the APD, which is instituting reforms aimed at enhancing equity in policing, unwelcome disparities remain, indicating that more work is needed within and beyond law enforcement agencies. Our research also underscores the value of
rigorous and impartial analysis of police data—together with public dissemination of the findings—as well as the importance of continual analyses that can help promote and measure change over time.
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