Snyder Police: 5,422 traffic stops in 2024; council accepts racial profiling report with no complaints

The Snyder City Council on a February 2025 meeting accepted the Snyder Police Department’s annual racial profiling report for 2024, which the department said covered 5,422 moving-violation traffic stops and recorded no formal complaints alleging racial profiling.

Chief Counts of the Snyder Police Department presented the report and told the council it covers only moving-violation stops, not parking or other contacts, and that the department’s digital ticketing system lets staff “run this report anytime of the year” down to the individual officer. “We made a total stops of 5,422 through the fiscal year last year,” Chief Counts said.

The council and staff discussed how officers record whether a driver is “known” to them. A council member asked whether “known” meant officers simply saw a familiar vehicle, and Counts replied that it could mean seeing the vehicle in the window or otherwise recognizing the driver before a stop: “Most times, if it’s somebody that’s local, we know what they’re driving before we can get into it.”

Counts described internal review procedures: sergeants review body- or vehicle-camera footage for more than 60 days to identify any potential profiling issues and the department can analyze data at the officer level to detect patterns. Counts told the council officers had not expressed fear that profiling complaints would prevent them from doing their duties.

A council member asked whether officers ever refrain from stopping a driver because of concern about being accused of profiling; Counts said officers have not told him they avoid stops for that reason. “They have not ever expressed that to me,” he said.

Council members voted unanimously to accept the report. The meeting record indicates the vote was approved; the transcript does not provide an exact roll-call tally.