Racial Profiling (H 5285, S 0145)

For the seventh year in a row, the ACLU of RI was part of a diverse coalition of organizations advocating for passage of the Comprehensive Racial Profiling Prevention Act. Three years’ worth of traffic stop data demonstrated consistently that black and Hispanic drivers are twice as likely as white drivers to be stopped by police and searched, while white drivers are more likely to be found with contraband when searched. This year’s bill generally barred law enforcement from demanding identification from car passengers, limited searches of minors and pedestrians absent suspicion of criminal activity, required police to document the grounds for conducting searches, and reestablished traffic stop data collection procedures.  The ACLU testified in support of this legislation before the House and Senate Judiciary committees, but the bill failed to receive a vote in either committee.