Who is Getting Stopped Here?

The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office presented its annual racial profiling report at the Fayette County Commissioner Court meeting last Thursday, Feb. 25.

The report says that deputies made 2,597 traffic stops in 2020. The report said deputies knew the race of the person stopped in only one of those cases. The race of the person was not known in all of the others.

Among those stopped, 44.24 percent were white, 34.62 percent were Hispanic or Latino, 17.10 percent were Black and 4.52 percent were Asian or Pacific islander.

Deputies conducted searches in 196 of the 2,587 traffic stops. Deputies received consent to search in 150 of those stops, 43 were probable cause searches, two searches were vehicle inventories before a tow, and one search was conducted incident to an arrest. Deputies discovered contraband in 44 of the searches: 29 were illegal drugs, three were currency, two were weapons and four were alcohol.

The report acknowledged that the racial distribution of the people stopped in 2020 differs from the racial mix of the County’s population. For example, whites make up 83 percent of the County’s population, but 44.24 percent of those stopped by the Sheriff’s Office. Hispanics and Latino’s make up 18 percent of the population but accounted for 34.62 percent of the stops. Furthermore, Blacks make up just eight percent of the County’s population but accounted for 14.79 percent of the stops.

The Sheriff’s Office attrib uted the discrepancy to the major roadways that bring people through Fayette County, including Interstate 10, US 290 and State Highway 71.

“These roadways bring a diverse group of races through Fayette County where the vast majority of the traffic stops occur,” the report stated.

Commissioners unanimously accepted the report at the