Economics Profs Work On Profiling Report

A preliminary report recently completed by a team including Sam Houston State University economics professors Edward Blackburne, Douglas Berg and Mark Frank has been receiving a lot of national attention.

The three worked with seven others to compile a summary of statistics from approximately 400 police agencies across the state in regards to racial profiling based on police contact with the public. The group looked at statistics based on the stop and search rates of different races, Blackburne said.

The report was commissioned by the Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, League of United Latin American Citizens of Texas and Texas State conference of the NAACP.

“In 2001, a law was passed that all police agencies have to report any sort of interaction they have with the public. If they stop not only for traffic citations, but even if they stop a pedestrian,” Blackburne said. “If they stop them, (police have to report) why they stop them, and they have to record the race of the individual, the time of stop, all the normal data.

“Through the open records act, the ACLU of Texas requested from 1,000 police agencies in Texas the data that they’re supposed to be keeping,” he said. “Some of the smaller agencies have all that data, but they have no idea what to do with it.”

That’s where Dwight Steward, principal author of the study who owns a consulting group in Austin, came in, as well as the other members of the research team.

The NAACP and ACLU contacted Steward who compiled the team of people from the Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, ACLU, University of Texas at Austin and SHSU earlier last year. Blackburne said he began working on the project in August.

The group released the 38-page preliminary report on Feb. 3, and it immediately began drawing national attention.

“Dr. Steward was the principal author and so he was the contact person,” Blackburne said. “The report came in about 4 (p.m.) on Tuesday and yesterday morning (Wednesday) he had had about 15 people call him. The New York Times and things like that have hit nation-wide.”

Blackburne said one reason the report has generated such interest is because of the subject matter itself.

“It’s really a touchy issue, it’s topical and it’s one of the largest studies ever done,” he said.

Though the preliminary report is finished, the project will be an ongoing one.

“As part of the legislation, each year by March 1, each agency has to report to their governing board basically how they’ve been doing in racial profiling, report their data,” Blackburne said. “So all of these agencies right now are scrambling (with about three weeks left) to make a three or four page report that, for example, the city of Huntsville can give to the city council and the mayor’s office.

“That’s required by law, and that’s why it’s getting a lot of attention right now.”

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SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
Feb. 6, 2004
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