NEW: Lawmakers Unveil Racial Profiling Bill
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
State Rep. Grace Diaz (D-Providence) is joining several community organizations at a news conference this morning to discuss her legislation to expand Rhode Island's racial profiling law.
The bill (2011-H 5263, 2011-S 0219) would extend racial profiling laws to protect minorities and juveniles, require traffic stop data collection on highway searches, and ban both "pretext" traffic stops -- when police use a traffic violation to pull a driver over for a different reason -- and "consent" searches on juveniles -- searches that require only verbal consent, not necessarily probable cause.
Over 30 community groups, including the Rhode Island ACLU and Ocean State Action, support the bill, and members from several of those groups will share personal experiences of how racial profiling has affected their lives.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe bill is sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Rhoda Perry (D-Providence).
The news conference is being held now in the House Lounge of the State House.
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