Introduced for the past several years, the Affiliate will continue to push for strengthened racial profiling legislation. Analysis of three years’ worth of state-wide traffic stop statistics has consistently shown that blacks and Hispanics are twice as likely as whites to be stopped and searched by police, but less likely to be found with contraband. The comprehensive bill that has been proposed improves current anti-racial profiling law by addressing three major areas of concern: traffic stops, juveniles and immigrants. Among its many provisions, 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. Read a summary of the bill.
This spring, the House Judiciary Committee held a long but generally positive hearing on Rep. Joseph Almeida’s comprehensive anti-racial profiling bill. Advocates came out in droves to support the measure which would codify basic police best practices that would be beneficial to all Rhode Islanders, not only the minority population. The Campaign Against Racial Profiling, a coalition made up of dozens of community organizations, has implemented an aggressive lobbying strategy this session in hopes of making this the year that the 5-year-old bill passes.
