Dateline: March 27, 2003

No evidence of racial profiling, sheriff says

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Sheriff Butch Blackburn says a report he gave to the Donley County Commissioners’ Court this month demonstrates that his office is even-handed as it enforces the law.

 “I think it definitely shows we’re not practicing racial profiling,” Blackburn said.

According to the report whites accounted for 89.6 percent of the drivers receiving traffic citations while black drivers received 10.4 percent, during calendar year 2002. The percentage of blacks arrested during last year was slightly higher at 15.1 percent as whites accounted for 84.9 percent.

For reporting purposes, all races other than black are considered white. The sheriff said he isn’t required to break races into smaller categories.

The statistics are similar to the state population break down during the last US Census in which black citizens accounted for approximately 12 percent of the Texas population.

Donley County’s population is 96.1 percent white (when all non-black races are considered white) and 3.9 percent black.  The City of Clarendon is 92.8 percent white (when all non-black races are considered white) and 7.2 percent black.

Blackburn said about 90 percent of traffic citations are written on drivers from outside Donley County, and he said he figures about 50 percent of arrests are people who are not from the local county.

This was the first year that local law enforcement agencies were required by the state to track the race of people receiving tickets and being arrested. With only one year of data, the sheriff said there isn’t enough information to see any trends.

Under the same law, which took effect last January, local law enforcement agencies were ordered to install video cameras in their patrol vehicles. Blackburn’s office met that goal in February.

“We’ve managed to do that at no cost to the local taxpayers,” Blackburn said. “I want to commend Chief Deputy Randy Bond and County Judge Jack Hall for doing the paper work and getting the grant done quickly.

“While a lot of areas are still trying to figure out if they will even qualify for a grant, we’ve already gotten our grant and gotten our cameras installed.”