Jackson County Racial Profile report released
By Michael Brooks
Editor/General Manager
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement released the Racial Profiling Report for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for the 2022 year.
The JCSO has a written policy on racial profiling which clearly defines racial profiling. The policy prohibits JCSO employees from engaging in racial profiling and implements a process by which an individual may file a complaint if they believe an officer engaged in racial profiling.
The policy also provides public education relating to the complaint process and requires corrective action to be taken against an officer who, after an investigation, is shown to have engaged in racial profiling.
Officers are required to collect information on every stop they make that results in a warning or citation, or a stop in which an arrest is made.
The policy requires the chief administrator, Sheriff Kelly R. Janica, submit an annual report, with all information submitted.
A total of 1,091 stops were made in 2022; 372 on county roads, 321 on US highways; 305 on state highways; 82 on city streets; and 11 on private property/other. In 1,048 of those, race was unknown prior to the stop.
Hispanic/Latinos were stopped the most at 563. Caucasian people were second with 415 stops, while 88 stops were made on African-American people and 22 on Asian-Americans.
Males made up 771 of those stopped with females being stopped 320 times. Hispanic/Latino topped both genders, with 396 males and 165 females. Caucasians were again second with 285 and 130, respectively, and African-Americans at 65 and 23 respectively.
Moving violations topped the list of reason for the stops at 889, with vehicle violations being second with 163.
Of the 1,091 stops, 41 searches were conducted, with searches on 19 Hispanic/Latino drivers, 13 Caucasian drivers, and seven African-American drivers.
Contraband was discovered in 15 of the 41 stops, with one arrest being made. Ten of those stops results in drugs being found, five with alcohol, and four with currency.
Written warnings were issued on 706 stops, and 303 citations were issued. Verbal warnings were given on 71 of the stops. Four times a written warning and arrest was made, two citations and arrests were made, and five arrests. Of those, eight were for an outstanding warrant, three for violation of penal code.
None of the 1,091 stops resulted in physical force being used and no complaints of recial profiling were issued.