Rep. Tobon to Reintroduce Bill in Support of “Fitting the Description” Movement
Monday, December 14, 2015
Representative Carlos Tobon will reintroduce legislation supporting the "fitting the description" movement and requiring law enforcement to automatically destroy all arrest records for those who are victims of mistaken or wrongful arrests. The legislation will be reintroduced in the upcoming 2016 General Assembly session.
“This is common sense legislation that has sadly been ignored for far too long, adversely affecting too many people and creating more unneeded division between law enforcement and the public. Upstanding citizens should not have arrest records that follow them throughout their lives because they unfairly ‘fit the description’ of a criminal. Rhode Island needs this change in law before more innocent people are subjected to the stigma of having unwarranted arrest records, possibly hampering their employment or living situations," said Tobon.
The bill would require the sealing and destruction of all arrest records and indices of arrest for people who are wrongfully arrested or detained by any law enforcement agency.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe bill would also provide that the arrest not be disclosed for any purpose and would mandate that the arresting agency notify the arrestee/detainee of the determination that the arrest was wrong and a case of mistaken identity.
Fitting the Description
Fitting the Description is a non-profit organization created to build awareness of the number of individuals who are wrongfully detained or arrested because they fit a description.
The founder of the organization, Charles Belk, is a victim of mistaken arrest and is rallying support of state legislators to introduce "auto erase" legislation to erase records of innocent individuals that are wrongfully arrested.
Belk said of Tobon's reintroduction "It brings me great honor that Representative Tobon is reintroducing this legislation. I watched similar #AutoErase bills get signed into law in both North Carolina and Illinois this year, and truly look forward to Rhode Island becoming the third state to do so as early in 2016 as possible!"
Related Slideshow: Police Militarization - Department by Department Breakdown
Below are those fifteen local police departments that have obtained military supplies, listed from least to most items acquired. The list does not include acquisition records for certain tactical weapons and supplies for which the Pentagon has refused to release department-specific data. (In those instances only county-level data has been released. That data is not included below.) Records are for recent acquisitions going back to 2009 and were obtained from the Defense Logistics Agency.
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