Pflugerville police present 2024 racial‑profiling report; analysts warn data limits, show higher search rate for Black motorists

Pflugerville Police presented the city's 2024 racial‑profiling data report at a Feb. 2025 work session, saying the dataset contains useful information on post‑stop outcomes but lacks a valid indicator of the driving population and therefore limits conclusions about profiling. Dr. Eric Fritch of the University of North Texas and Justice Research Consultants led the analysis; Chief Jason O'Malley and Commander Jared Tyson joined him for questions from council members.

The report analyzes 6,415 traffic stops recorded by Pflugerville officers in calendar year 2024. "About 60% of your stops in 2024 were not residents of the City of Pflugerville," Dr. Fritch told the council, drawing attention to what he and other presenters called a core limitation for city‑level comparisons: many stopped motorists are not city residents, and no reliable local driving‑population denominator exists.

Why that matters: the Texas reporting framework requires agencies to compare stop data by race or ethnicity to population figures. Analysts said using city or county resident populations can be misleading for a community with high daytime through‑traffic. The presenters told the council they used 2020 census figures and year‑over‑year comparisons (2021–2024) to track consistency over time but cautioned…