Comprehensive Racial Profiling Bill (S 2230)

Despite persistent efforts, no action was ultimately taken on a comprehensive bill that would have strengthened the state’s racial profiling law by requiring police to document the grounds for conducting car searches; limiting the authority of police to demand identification from innocent passengers; banning so-called “pretext” stops; and reestablishing traffic stop data collection procedures. The two dozen civil rights organizations supporting the legislation will work for its passage next session. The bill was vigorously opposed by the R.I. Police Chiefs Association, even as recent state data continued to document that Black and Hispanic individuals remained about twice as likely as whites to be stopped and searched in encounters with police. The data also continued to show that whites were more likely than Black or Hispanic individuals to be found with contraband when searched.