Racial Profiling (H 5237, S 298)

A major disappointment of 2007 was the failure of the House or Senate to take any action on comprehensive legislation, supported by a coalition of more than 40 organizations organized by the Affiliate, designed to address the problem of racial profiling. The bill responded to a series of recent highly-publicized incidents in the state as well as statistical data documenting continued and significant racial disparities in police traffic stops and searches. Among other things, the bill would prevent police from demanding identification from innocent passengers and from searching minors in the absence of suspicion of criminal activity, require police to document the grounds for conducting searches, and reestablish traffic stop data collection procedures. The R.I. Police Chiefs Association and the R.I. State Police lobbied against the bill, which the Affiliate will be actively promoting in 2008.