POLICY

Race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation of an individual shall not be a factor in determining the existence of probable cause to take  into custody or to arrest an individual or in constituting a reasonable and articulable suspicion that an offense has been or is being committed so as to justify the detention of an individual or the investigatory stop of a motor vehicle or pedestrian.

DEFINITIONS

Illegal profiling - A law enforcement initiated action based on an individual's race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender or sexual orientation rather than on the individual's behavior or on information identifying the individual having engaged in criminal activity.

Illegal profiling does not include the reliance on the race or ethnicity in combination with other identifying factors when an officer is attempting to apprehend a specific subject whose race or ethnicity are part or the description of the suspect.

PROCEDURES

A.   No employee shall engage in illegal profiling.

B.   The race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation of an individual shall not be a factor in determining the existence of probable cause to take into custody or to arrest an individual, or reasonable suspicion to justify the investigatory detention of an individual.

C.   All investigatory stops of a motor vehicle or pedestrian, and all consents to search, will be documented on in-car video tapes, per Code of Criminal Procedure Article 2.132 and Patrol Services Bureau Standard Operating Procedure In-Car Video System.

D.   In-Car video tapes will be maintained by the Patrol Services Bureau and will be periodically reviewed by supervisory personnel per the Patrol Services Bureau Standard Operating Procedure In-Car Video System. 

E.   All complaints related to illegal profiling will be handled per General Order 1200, entitled "Discipline." Corrective action including, but not limited to, training, counseling, verbal warning, written reprimand, suspension, demotion, and/or termination will be taken against the employee who, after investigation, has shown to have engaged in illegal profiling in violation of this General Order. 

F.   The following information will be collected for all traffic stops during which a citation is issued or an arrest results:

       1. race or ethnicity of the individual detained; and
       2. whether a search was conducted and, if so, whether the
           person detained consented to a search

Prior to April 1st of each year, a report detailing this information for the previous calendar year shall be presented to the City Manager with a recommendation that the said report should be passed on to each member of the City Council.

G.   Public education regarding the process by which citizens may make complaints to the Internal Affairs Division regarding illegal profiling as well as any other violation of law or policy shall be accomplished by news releases as deemed necessary by the Chief of Police, by the publication in English and in Spanish of Brochures detailing the process, and the posting of this General Order on the Department's website.