Louisiana Lawmakers Push to Close Racial Data Loophole in Traffic Stop Law
“We can do better, and we must do better as a state,” C. Denise Marcelle said. “We owe that to the people we serve.”
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana legislators are vowing to amend a state law that critics say leads to inaccurate racial data collection during traffic stops, potentially skewing efforts to monitor and prevent racial profiling by law enforcement.
The push for reform follows an investigation revealing that the current law requires police officers to record a driver's race but not their ethnicity. As a result, many Hispanic drivers are inaccurately classified as either Black or White on traffic citations, raising concerns about data integrity.
“I would absolutely be interested in closing that loophole,” said State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle of Baton Rouge, who originally authored the legislation aimed at addressing racial profiling. “I don’t think it’s fair to the public.”
Under existing law, officers are mandated to collect race, age, and gender information based on observation, but drivers are not required to self-identify. Because Hispanic is classified as an ethnicity rather than a race, many officers default to marking individuals as either Black or White, often without further clarification.
An analysis of traffic tickets issued in Kenner, West Wego, and Gretna since 2020 revealed that out of 3,400 stops involving drivers with common Hispanic last names, fewer than 10% were officially recorded as Hispanic. In some cases, body camera footage showed officers verbally identifying drivers as Hispanic, yet still marking them as White on citations, a practice that complies with current state law.
“If they're classifying Hispanics as White, that definitely skews the data and makes it appear as though racial profiling is not occurring in Louisiana,” said State Rep. Alonzo Knox of New Orleans, a member of the Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. “This is something we need to fix immediately.”
State Rep. Joy Walters of Shreveport echoed those concerns, pointing to evolving federal standards on race and ethnicity classification. The U.S. Census Bureau, which until last year only listed five racial categories—White, Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander—has since revised its approach to allow for more detailed ethnic classifications, including Hispanic and Middle Eastern identities.
“It’s misleading when the numbers don’t reflect reality,” Walters said. “We have an obligation to report this data fairly and accurately.”
Marcelle and other lawmakers have committed to introducing legislation in the next session to ensure officers accurately document both race and ethnicity in traffic stop records. The proposed changes aim to align Louisiana’s reporting standards with updated federal guidelines.
“We can do better, and we must do better as a state,” Marcelle said. “We owe that to the people we serve.”
The chairwoman of the Administration of Criminal Justice Committee, Rep. Debbie Villio of Kenner, declined to comment on the issue when contacted. Meanwhile, advocates and lawmakers say they will continue to push for transparency and accountability in Louisiana’s traffic stop data collection system.
