now if people just exercise their rights.
Under a policy announced last week, Austin police will have to obtain written permission before searching a vehicle. Officers now ask verbal permission before conducting a search. Drivers can refuse, but a police officer who suspects illegal contents in a car may detain the vehicle until a warrant is obtained.
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Establishing probable cause for a traffic stop is sometimes as easy as a vehicle exceeding the speed limit or as subtle as a drift to the left or right. A traffic stop tests an officer's powers of observation, judgment and tact.
Once they've got a car stopped, officers then have to make a judgment call about searching the vehicle. The smell of illegal drugs or a weapon in plain sight makes that call an easy one. The decision to ask for permission to search a vehicle when the reason isn't immediately apparent is the one that could lead to misunderstandings and resentments against police, who, like everyone else, need all the friends they can get.
Under a policy announced last week, Austin police will have to obtain written permission before searching a vehicle. Officers now ask verbal permission before conducting a search.Drivers can refuse, but a police officer who suspects illegal contents in a car may detain the vehicle until a warrant is obtained.
As Margo Frasier, the Austin police monitor, noted at a news conference last week, "The public often doesn't understand you do not have to consent to a search. If an officer has probable cause, that officer will search you, but you have the right to refuse" otherwise.
The new policy takes effect next month. Drivers will be presented with a form available in both English and Spanish to sign before a search can be performed on their vehicles. Officers will be instructed to read the form to people who can't read it for themselves.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo announced the new policy after a report by the Office of Police Monitor that black and Hispanic drivers were searched more often than whites.
As the American-Statesman's Patrick George reported last week, one in eight traffic stops involving a black driver resulted in a search. Hispanic drivers were searched in 1 of 10 traffic stops. White drivers were searched in 1 of 28 traffic stops, according to the police monitor's report: "Caucasians accounted for 55 percent of the stops and 30 percent of the searches. Blacks/African Americans accounted for 13 percent of the stops and 26 percent of the searches."
Yet the report noted that "there is virtually no difference in the likelihood of contraband being discovered within the three groups."
Acevedo was quick to wave away suggestions that the results could be indicative of racial profiling — officers deciding to search vehicles based on the race or ethnicity of the driver. Stepped up police work in high-crime areas means more activity in neighborhoods with high concentrations of minorities, Acevedo said.
The chief also said that black residents file complaints at a rate almost five times greater than their representation in the voting age population. That's an eyebrow raiser that the police monitor has noted previously, but, she said, "it continues to be an issue. As a percentage, blacks/African Americans filed more formal complaints than they did supervisory inquiries. This is a concern because formal complaints are typically of a more serious nature.
"This may also be reflective of a belief that a supervisor will not take the complaint seriously and/or that the complainant wishes to have the OPM more involved in the monitoring of the investigation."
The numbers defy a single or simple explanation but do suggest a continued atmosphere of distrust of police in minority communities.
Acevedo said he wants to make people aware of their rights and bolster cases filed when contraband is found in a vehicle search.
"It is going to ensure that when they give consent, it is better-formed consent," Acevedo said, adding that a written consent removes the ambiguity that could result from verbal authorization.
The notion of written consent is not new. Legislation that would have required officers to obtain a written permission to search vehicles was introduced in the 2009 session but encountered resistance from police groups and died.
The situation is not unique to Austin or Texas. Other communities in other states are grappling with issues raised when similar statistics are released in their jurisdictions.
The new policy is not that radical because officers can ask for a signature authorizing a search as easily as they now ask verbal permission.
Ultimately, the success or failure of any policy depends on how it is carried out, and the chief and his chain of command will be watched closely on how well the policy is put into effect.