Highland Village Police present 2024 racial‑profiling report; council accepts as consent item

Highland Village Police presented the department’s required 2024 racial‑profiling report on Feb. 11. Sergeant Corey Gould, with introductory remarks by the police chief, reviewed the department’s policy prohibiting bias‑based policing, the data‑collection process and key traffic‑stop statistics; the council accepted the report on the consent agenda.

Gould said the department uses a written policy on bias‑based policing (general orders 3‑32) and that the state’s requirements for reporting changed after the Sandra Bland legislation to require annual reporting. He said officers record stop data in Brazos citation software from their mobile devices and that Axon Evidence stores body‑worn‑camera footage for 90 days, in compliance with state retention rules. “So this is gonna be our 2024 racial profiling report,” Gould told council.

The department reported 3,965 traffic stops in 2024. Of those, officers conducted 83 searches and found contraband in 54 of the searches. Results across all stops included 875 citations issued, 3,039 written warnings, 44 instances of written warnings plus arrests, seven citations that included arrests (often for outstanding warrants or criminal offenses), and 21 arrests attributable to contraband discovered in searches. The presenter said four incidents involved use of force during traffic contacts; one of those incidents included an injury to an officer. The report also noted that in 98.71% of stops officers did not know the race of the person prior to the stop — a specific question required by state reporting.

Council members pressed staff on how the department accounts for the city’s demographic profile and on whether highway stops (state highways 2499 and 407) — which bring many non‑residents through Highland Village — affect the population comparison. Staff said they can extrapolate Highland Village–resident stops separately from the full dataset, though the state report is not required to separate resident vs. nonresident stops. Staff also described monthly supervisor video reviews, random body‑cam reviews and the department’s complaint process as internal controls.

The report was included as agenda item 17 and approved on the consent agenda; a council member moved approval of the consent items and Mr. Feaster seconded. The consent motion carried 6–0.