Dallas County: Hispanic motorists targeted, he asserts; inquiry ordered

12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, November 23, 2005

By JAMES M. O'NEILL / The Dallas Morning News

A 25-year veteran of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department has asked the FBI to review information that he says shows that the department's DWI task force has been engaged in illegal racial profiling by targeting Hispanic drivers.

Deputy Mike Ramirez, a vice president of the Latino Peace Officers Association's Dallas chapter, said Tuesday that after reviewing arrest records obtained through a freedom-of-information request and observing the task force's work, he has asked Sheriff Lupe Valdez to suspend the unit's operations until better policies can be put in place to guard against targeting Hispanics.

He said the sheriff has not been responsive, which prompted him to go to the FBI.

In a statement issued through the department's press secretary, Sheriff Valdez said that she has assigned two deputy chiefs to investigate the allegations and that when the investigation is completed, she will take appropriate action if the allegations are true.

In the meantime, she does not intend to suspend the program.

"Drunk-driving crashes are the most committed yet preventable violent crimes in the United States," Sheriff Valdez said. "We must do everything we can to protect everyone, including those who choose to drink and drive."

The problem is limited to a few officers, said Deputy Ramirez, who was joined by local Hispanic leaders at a news conference Tuesday.

He said that, according to records he obtained, one deputy – whom he would not name – made 597 traffic stops from October 2004 to last month. Of those stopped, 440 were Hispanic, he said. The officer arrested 72 of them and gave citations to 192.

According to Deputy Ramirez, the deputy stopped white drivers 95 times and black drivers 62 times, making no arrests and issuing no citations. (In a handful of cases, he could not determine the ethnicity of the driver).

He said the DWI task force, which is funded through a state grant, frequently operates at Manana Road and the frontage road of Interstate 35E, near two nightclubs frequented by Hispanics and Mexicans. He asserted that the task force largely ignores nightclubs frequented by Anglos, which are just across I-35.

"They're easy prey," he said of the Hispanic drivers. "The deputies know many don't have licenses, so they won't contest the charges."

He said that anyone driving drunk should be arrested, regardless of ethnicity, but that the law should be applied fairly.

According to statistics issued by the Sheriff's Department, from Nov. 29, 2003, to May 18, 2005, there were 200 convictions for driving while intoxicated. Of those convicted, 101 were Hispanic.

During all of 2004, the department made 350 DWI arrests, and 198 of those arrested were Hispanic.

E-mail joneill@dallasnews.com