In January, state Rep. Grace Diaz, D-Providence, reintroduced the Comprehensive Racial Profiling Prevention Act, which aims to ensure that police officers do not stop individuals for racially motivated reasons. A similar bill died in the Rhode Island House of Representatives in past years after police organizations voiced their concerns. Luckily, this year is different. The bill recently proceeded to the Senate and has been met with broad community support in Rhode Island. Local organizations such as the Rights Working Group, the American Friends Service Committee, the Coalition Against Racial Profiling, the R.I. American Civil Liberties Union and the Providence Youth Student Movement - which includes Brown alums - have all expressed their support for the bill. Particularly given the recent racially charged killing of Trayvon Martin, we hope Diaz's bill continues to gather support and achieves legislative passage.
The bill would require police officers "to document in writing their 'probable cause' or 'reasonable suspicion' grounds for conducting a search of vehicles, drivers or pedestrians" and would require this documentation to be on the public record. It would also prohibit police officers from asking drivers for any form of identification other than a driver's license, vehicle registration or proof of insurance - that is, a police officer cannot attempt to investigate whether someone is "legal" or not, an important provision for a nation increasingly defined by its diversity.
Furthermore, the bill aims to protect pedestrians, particularly minors, from unjust police intervention by prohibiting "police from searching people without probable cause even if they consent to the search." In a March 20 Herald article, Hope High School senior Stephen Dy, who is of Cambodian heritage, said that he does not feel like he has a choice when police ask to search him. "If I try to come off as defensive, it ends up coming off as offensive," he told The Herald.
Abundant evidence demonstrates the need for this bill. In an analysis of two years of data on traffic stops, Northeastern University researchers found that "African-American and Latino drivers were not only more likely than white drivers to be stopped by police, but also more than twice as likely as white drivers to be searched," despite the fact that "white drivers were more likely to be found with contraband when searched."
Take the recent tragedy of Travyon Martin's murder in Florida - George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch member who shot Martin, described him as "real suspicious" to a 911 operator based on his hoodie and, presumably, his skin color. It is clear that racial profiling remains a serious and potentially deadly issue in this country. And as the research has demonstrated, this is a problem for Rhode Island specifically - Steven Brown, executive director of the R.I. ACLU, told The Herald, racial profiling "has been a contentious issue for a decade." We strongly urge the state legislature to pass the Comprehensive Racial Profiling Prevention Act and take a strong step toward preventing this kind of injustice in the future.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
