NEW: Lawmakers Unveil Racial Profiling Bill
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
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.
The 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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Comments:
Ed Bowers
3:17pm on Tuesday, February 22, 2011
From the time we first had law enforcement officials we have had some form of "racial profiling". Why? Because it is and has been an effective way to reduce the number of law breakers and crime. Lately many people, all of whom have their own particular axe to gring, have come out against racial profiling. Many of those folks do this because in their "community" they have an inordinate percentage of law breakers. One would think that the appropriate answer to this problem is for these folks to do something to change that scenario. But, no, instead they want to pass laws that will continue to prevent the law enforcement community from doing their job. Sounds like the inmates are trying to run the asylum. That's my two cents.