Florida trooper's traffic stops raise questions about race reporting
Sep 23, 2025·Location: Lake Worth Beach, FL
Country of origin: El Salvador

Jose Hernandez Alvarez, a man from El Salvador, was pulled over by Florida Highway Patrol Trooper John Petrofsky in Lake Worth Beach for driving with dark window tint. After the trooper contacted federal immigration authorities, Petrofsky arrested Alvarez, whom he said lacked legal status, and jailed him for driving with an expired license. Petrofsky identified Alvarez as "white" on official forms. WLRN reviewed 107 traffic cases involving Petrofsky in Palm Beach County and found he did not identify a single "Hispanic" driver during an 11-month period, raising questions about accurate race and ethnicity reporting that could hinder independent monitoring of alleged racial profiling.
Sources
- 'Data masking’? Florida trooper’s traffic stops raise questions about race, ethnicity reporting
WLRN·Mar 5, 2026·archived copy
- Why Palm Beach County leads Florida in arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants
WUSF·May 10, 2026·archived copy
- Florida troopers tapped surveillance network for immigration searches, raising alarm - Suncoast Searchlight
suncoastsearchlight.org·Jun 13, 2025·archived copy
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