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The civil rights groups also allege troopers excessively pull over Latinos - who make up the vast majority of border county populations - for minor traffic violations. A DPS policy from 2017 and a spokesperson’s comments in December indicated the agency does not restrict when officers can chase a car, leaving the decision up to the individual officer. In recent years, police chases have been scrutinized nationwide, and policing experts have encouraged departments to narrow their use, citing the danger they pose to police, suspects and bystanders. The Texas Department of Public Safety reported in December that in the nine months after troopers flooded the region searching for people smuggling drugs or people into the United States, its officers engaged in more than 1,000 vehicle pursuits in border communities. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar Operation Lone Star, including the deadly car chases and an abundance of traffic stops and searches that disproportionately target Latinos. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project are pleading for federal intervention to halt policing practices under Gov. Department of Justice in an official complaint of alleged civil rights violations. The death tally, which includes five people not involved in the chases, was compiled from news reports and sent Thursday to the U.S. Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.Īt least 30 people have been killed in state police car chases connected to Texas’ expansive border security operation since it began last March, according to a new complaint by civil rights groups.

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