VIDEO-Texas Troopers to Ask Drivers Their Race After Investigation - NBC News

Eric Gay / AP, file

McCraw, the DPS director, initially told KXAN after its investigation that a flaw in the computer system used by troopers could be to blame for the rampant misidentifications. DPS Press Secretary Tom Vinger told the station at the time that the "department categorically rejects" assertions that troopers were engaging in racial profiling.

But on Wednesday, called to testify before the state House Committee on County Affairs, McCraw acknowledged there was a problem.

"What we can do better, and we should have been doing better, is collect the data accurately, as it relates to Hispanics. Plain and simple, [we're] guilty," McCraw said, according to KXAN. "That should have been done better and we've got an obligation to fix that."

Natarajan, the law professor, said she hoped the change would "add an additional level of protection to ensure the integrity of the data."

"I think it remains to be seen how it will work out in practice and whether it will be implemented properly," she told NBC News.