In 2016, the City of Aransas Pass teamed up with Texas A&M to study body-cam footage captured by the police department. The report is now complete.
The period studied is from May 28, 2016, through May 27, 2017, and includes a 3rd party, non-law enforcement review of over 600 videos. These videos were selected by the research team at random and then evaluated. The focus of this study is to determine if there are any differences in the way the police department staff handle contacts with people of different racial, ethnic backgrounds or people of the opposite sex or those who identify with a gender other than their gender at birth.
In a sense, the research project represents a 3rd party audit and report card on policing activities within our community.
Contrary to what some believe, most police encounters end in conversation and on a more favorably level. It is not law enforcement’s job to rack up revenue for a City or add difficulty and strain in people’s lives. We’re here to help sustain peace and balance within our community, and I am pleased that this report helps illustrate that.
“I would like to especially thank Dr. Sarah Scott, Dr. Wendi Pollock, Professor Eric Moore, and Graduate Student Emily Shafer for their hard work on this study.”
– Chief Eric Blanchard
This post was originally published on February 18, 2019 at Chief Blanchard’s blog.
