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Legislation and Litigation

Legislation

TENNESSEE

On June 19, 2000, the Tennessee Legislature enacted Chapter 910 (SB No. 2415) creating a "Permissive Pilot Program" whereby the Tennessee Highway Patrol would begin collecting traffic stop data on race and ethnicity as well as undergo racial profiling training. Additionally, 41 municipal police departments, one university police department and two sheriff's offices also volunteered to participate in the study. The participating agencies used a form prepared by the Comptroller of the Treasury and submitted data monthly from January 1 through December 31, 2001. The Comptroller analyzed the data and issued a report in March 2002 and concluded, among other things, that drivers were stopped in proportions that differed from their racial representation in the overall population, that the dispositions of the stops varied by race and the rates of search also varied by race. The Comptroller's report also recommended that the General Assembly continue the collection of data for all state and local law enforcement agencies.

Tenn. Pub. Acts Ch. 910 (2000) , Permissive Pilot Project

Status: Enacted June 19, 2000 ; Effective January 01, 2001
Data collection is voluntary: Ardmore PD, Athens PD, Atoka PD, Belle Meade PD, Brownsville PD, Camden PD, Chattanooga PD, Clarksville PD, Coffee County SD, Dyersburg PD, East Ridge PD, Estill Springs PD, Fayetteville PD, Franklin PD, Gates PD, Halls PD, Haywood County PD, Humboldt PD, Jackson PD, Jellico PD, Knoxville PD, Lake City PD, Lenoir City PD, Madison County PD, Manchester PD, Martin PD, Maury County SD, Memphis PD, Metro-Nashville PD, MTSU, Millersville PD, Oak Ridge PD, Obion PD, Oliver Springs PD, Paris PD, Pulaski PD, Ripley PD, Roane County SD, Rutledge PD, Signal Mountain PD, Sumner County SD, Trimble PD, Union City PD, Whiteville PD

Scope of Collection: vehicle stops

Restrictions: pilot program -- voluntary for one year, with no definite plans to continue study or expand to entire state

Data Collection Dates: January 01, 2001 through December 31, 2001

Data Collected: age, race, color, gender, ethnicity, number of passengers, reason for stop / alleged violation, citation given, arrest made, personal search conducted, search of vehicle conducted, type of search, contraband found, items seized for forfeiture, warrant given, authority for search

Other Information: Required collection of data for each traffic stop. The data was submitted monthly to the Comptroller of the Treasury from January 1-December 31, 2001, and was analyzed by the Comptroller’s Research Analysts. In March 2002, the Comptroller issued a report based on the data, stating that the number of persons from each ethnic or racial group did not correspond to their representative numbers in the driving public, using Census data and drivers’ licensing information for benchmarks.

Related Articles:

Journal Articles and Law Reviews:

Tennessee Vehicle Stops and Race: A Study and Report in Response to Public Chapter 910 of 2000
John G. Morgan

Contact Information:

Office of Comptroller, Division of Research and Education Accountability
Ethel Detch
Suite 1700, James K. Polk Building, 505 Deaderick Street
Nashville, TN 37243-0268
615-401-7868
Ethel.Detch@state.tn.us
http://www.comptroller.state.tn.us/orea/reports/racialprofiling.pdf

S.B. 2214, General Assembly. (Tn 2005),, An Act to Amend Tennessee Code Annotated Title 4, Chapter 7, Relative to Racial Profiling Study by Tennessee Highway Patrol

Status: Enacted Effective July 01, 2006
Data collection is voluntary

Data Collected: age, race, color, gender, ethnicity, reason for stop / alleged violation, warning given, citation given, arrest made, search of vehicle conducted, type of search

ANALYSIS OF RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT'S STOP, QUESTION, AND FRISK PRACTICES

RAND Corporation

In 2006, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) stopped a half-million pedestrians for suspected criminal involvement. Raw statistics for these encounters suggest large racial disparities — 89 percent of the stops involved nonwhites. Do these statistics point to racial bias in police officers’ decisions to stop particular pedestrians? Do they indicate that officers are particularly intrusive when stopping nonwhites? The NYPD asked the RAND Center on Quality Policing (CQP) to help it understand this issue and identify recommendations for addressing potential problems. CQP researchers analyzed data on all street encounters between NYPD officers and pedestrians in 2006. They compared the racial distribution of stops to external benchmarks, attempts to construct what the racial distribution of the stopped pedestrians would have been if officers’ stop decisions had been racially unbiased. Then they compared each officer’s stopping patterns with an internal benchmark constructed from stops in similar circumstances made by other officers. Finally, they examined stop outcomes, assessing whether stopped white and nonwhite suspects have different rates of frisk, search, use of force, and arrest. They found small racial differences in these rates and make communication, recordkeeping, and training recommendations to the NYPD for improving police-pedestrian interactions.

FLORIDA: JACKSONVILLE POLICE RECEIVE NO RACIAL PROFILING COMPLAINTS IN ’08

The Jacksonville Police Department presented its annual Racial Profiling Report which covers Calendar Year 2008 and showed that JPD received no formal reports of racial profiling. It also confirmed that local police are conducting traffic stops using legal criteria and not race as their motivation for enforcement action. Currently, the Texas Racial Profiling Law requires that police departments collect data pertaining to traffic stops, pedestrian stops, searches conducted and citations issued.

TEXAS: BELLAIRE MAYOR TO INVESTIGATE RACIAL PROFILING ALLEGATIONS

The mayor of Bellaire responded publicly for the first time to allegations of racial profiling due to an incident of mistaken identity. Officers will now be required to participate in additional cultural sensitivity training. The city is also hiring an independent state consultant to analyze traffic stop data for 2008 and look for incidents of racial profiling. The mayor also promised to release the results of the district attorney's investigation publicly, once it is completed.

CALIFORNIA: TORRANCE POLICE PROFILING SUIT IS DEFEATED

A woman who claimed she was wrongly arrested by Torrance police because of her race has lost her federal lawsuit against the city, a former chief and two officers. Sara Plowden, who lived in Gardena when she filed the civil rights lawsuit in January 2006, claimed she was subjected to a "driving while black" arrest early on Nov. 23, 2003. She claimed the officers physically accosted her and that city officials and former Police Chief James Herren allowed "an atmosphere of lawlessness, abuse and misconduct" to fester in the department.

ARKANSAS: ARIZONA DPS TIGHTENS SEARCH RULES TO AVOID PROFILING

The Arizona Department of Public Safety, in moves intended to prevent and detect racial profiling, is making internal changes that include requiring Highway Patrol officers to document why they search vehicles they stop. Other changes announced by Gov. Janet Napolitano's office include requiring officers to obtain a motorist's consent for a search to get the driver's signature or to use video or audio to record the driver giving permission verbally.

UTAH: UTAH HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICER ACCUSED OF RACIAL PROFILING

Sherida Felders, a black grandmother, alleges a Utah Highway Patrol officer had no reason to believe her Jeep Commander contained illegal substances, but called in a drug-sniffing dog after stopping her for speeding Felders has filed a suit accusing the trooper of conducting an illegal search of her vehicle for drugs based on racial profiling.