Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that prohibits police officers from using racial and ethnic profiling, among other provisions.

Highlights:

• Defines “racial or ethnic profiling” as the practice of a law enforcement agent or agency, relying, to any degree, on actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, national origin or religion in selecting which individual or location to subject to routine or spontaneous investigatory activities or in deciding upon the scope and substance of law enforcement activity following the initial investigatory procedure, except when there is trustworthy information, relevant to the locality and timeframe, that links a specific person or location with a particular characteristic described in this paragraph to an identified criminal incident or scheme (Sec. 1).

• Defines “routine or spontaneous investigatory activities” as the following activities by a law enforcement agent (Sec. 1):

• Interviews;

• Traffic stops;

• Pedestrian stops;

• Frisks and other types of body searches;

• Consensual or non-consensual searches of persons, property or possessions (include vehicles) of individuals;

• Data collection and analysis, assessments and investigations; and

• Inspections and interviews.

• Prohibits every law enforcement agency and every law enforcement officer from engaging in racial or ethnic profiling (Sec. 1).

• Requires such agency to promulgate and adopt procedures for the review and the taking of corrective action with respect to complaints by individuals who allege that they have been the subject of racial or ethnic profiling (Sec. 1).

• Requires each law enforcement agency to, using a form to be determined by the division, record and retain the following information with respect to law enforcement officers (Sec. 1):

• The number of persons stopped as a result of a motor vehicle stop for traffic violations and the number of persons stopped as a result of a routine or spontaneous law enforcement activity;

• The characteristics of race, color, ethnicity, national origin or religion of each such person, provided the identification of such characteristics will be based on the observation and perception of the officer responsible for reporting the stop and the information will not be required to be provided by the person stopped;

• If a vehicle was stopped, the number of individuals in the stopped motor vehicle;

• The nature of the alleged violation that resulted in the stop or the basis for the conduct that resulted in the individual being stopped;

• Whether a pat-down or frisk was conducted and if so, the result of the pat-down or frisk;

• Whether a search was conducted and if so, the result of the search;

• If a search was conducted, whether the search was of a person, a person's property, and or a person's vehicle, and whether the search was conducted pursuant to consent and if not, the basis for conducting the search including any alleged criminal behavior that justified the search;

• Whether an inventory search of such person's impounded vehicle was conducted;

• Whether a warning or citation was issued;

• Whether an arrest was made and for what charge or charges;

• The approximate duration of the stop; and

• The time and location of the stop.

• Requires the division to develop and implement a plan for a computerized data system for public viewing of data furnished by law enforcement agencies, and to publish an annual report on data collected for the governor, the legislature, and the public on law enforcement stops (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes the attorney general, on behalf of the people, or a victim of racial profiling to bring an action for injunctive relief and or damages against a law enforcement agency that is engaging in or has engaged in an act or acts of racial profiling (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text