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Lampasas police present traffic-stop report; chief says department logged 3,658 stops and "0 complaints" on racial profiling
Summary
The Lampasas Police Department reported 3,658 traffic stops last year and, according to the department’s presentation, "specifically on racial profiling, we have 0 complaints." Councilmembers pressed staff on whether stops were compared to local demographic percentages and asked for follow-up data.
Presiding Officer (Speaker 3) opened the agenda item and the city’s Police Chief (Speaker 5) presented the department’s annual traffic-stop and racial-profiling report, saying the department recorded 3,658 traffic stops last year and that "specifically on racial profiling, we have 0 complaints." The chief described the report as a detailed traffic-stop data set compiled monthly and annually by the records office and invited council and the public to review the records.
The chief cautioned that comparing raw stop counts to population percentages is complex in Lampasas because of through traffic on state highways and nearby Fort Hood. "You have 3 state highways, next to Fort Hood, a very diverse community that's getting closer every day," he said, adding that employees and businesses that draw nonresident workers can skew simple demographic comparisons. When asked whether staff compute stop rates by race relative to the city's population, the chief said the department can attempt apples‑to‑apples comparisons using driver's-license addresses and is open to follow-up analysis.
Councilmembers and at least one citizen asked for more measured comparisons rather than raw counts. One councilmember asked whether the 3,658 stops were typical; the chief said totals were down about 300 from the previous year and attributed part of the change to staffing and academy training cycles, noting the patrol division would be fully staffed by the following week.
The presentation included an offer from staff to provide the detailed monthly records and to receive recommendations on additional checks or metrics. The chief emphasized the department’s willingness to discuss any anomalies identified in the data and to consider suggested changes to reporting.
Next steps: staff said the records officer maintains monthly and annual statistics and the council can request more detailed breakdowns; no formal policy changes or votes on policing oversight were offered during the session.
