Maine Should Gather Data on Racial Profiling
Peace Action Maine along with the Maine Civil Liberties Union, the Institute for Practical Democracy, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the NAACP of Maine have formed a coalition working toward ending racial profiling in Maine. Following are excerpts of an article by Sally Sutton of the MCLU which appeared in the Portland Press Herald in January.
Racial profiling is based on the premise that most drug offenses are committed by minorities. The premise is factually untrue, but it has nonetheless become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because police look for drugs primarily among African Americans and Latinos, they find a disproportionate number of them in that population. Therefore, more minorities are arrested, prosecuted, convicted and jailed, thus reinforcing the perception that drug trafficking is primarily a minority activity. This perception creates the profile that results in more stops of minority drivers.
In the last two years, however, there has been growing awareness of and opposition to the practice of racial profiling or driving while black or brown (DWB). This movement started with the Traffic Stops Statistics Act, introduced in Congress by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan. This bill required police departments to keep data on types of traffic stops and then report them to the U.S. Attorney General. Gathering this information would be the first step in identifying the problems that need to be addressed. The legislation passed the House in March 1998. When the National Association of Police Organizations came out in opposition, stating that there was no need for the legislation, the Senate didn't consider it.
Since the bill was introduced, more information has come to light about racial profiling, and Congress, the state legislatures, and local law enforcement agencies have made the decision to voluntarily collect statistics.
Between January 1995 and September 1996, Maryland State Police reported searching 823 motorists on I-95 north of Baltimore. Of these 70% were black. Blacks make up only 16.9% percent of the drivers on this I-95 corridor. Videotaped traffic stops on I-95 in Florida found that 70 percent of those stopped were black, while blacks make up less than 10 percent of the drivers.
While Hispanics comprise fewer than 8 percent of the Illinois population and make as little as 3 percent of the personal vehicle trips, they make up about 30% of those stopped by Illinois State Police for discretionary offenses.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police has passed a resolution stating that "the IACP does not endorse, train, teach, support or condone any type of bias profiling by any law enforcement agency or individual acting under color of law."
The American Bar Association has endorsed a proposal calling racial profiling a "clear danger to the nation," and called on law enforcement agencies to collect data on all traffic stops. A Gallup poll indicated a national consensus that racial profiling is both widespread‹59 percent‹and wrong‹81 percent.
Last year, only a few states considered legislation mandating the collection of statistics on stops and searches. This year, more than 20 states have legislation pending. Many local law enforcement agencies, without legislative mandates, have voluntarily started collecting information.
What does all this mean for Maine? To date, there has been little public discussion of this problem. Maine officials can wait for federal mandates to force the gathering of statistics, or they can take action now and be at the forefront of the movement to do away with this discretionary practice. Gov. Angus King should issue an executive order requiring that the state police gather statistics about their traffic stops. The Legislature should pass legislation mandating the collection of traffic stop statistics. Absent legislation, county and city officials and county sheriffs and local police chiefs should adopt policies requiring that statistics about all stops and searches be collected. Maine people can contact all of these public officials, as well as our congressional delegation, and let them know that we want to put an end to the discriminatory practice of racial profiling.
For more information about "Driving While Black" and a copy of the ACLU's report, contact the ACLU Arrest the Racism website at http://www.aclu.org/profiling/index.html or call the MCLU office at 774-5444.
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