Point Reyes Light - September 21, 2000
County to check on racial profiling
County supervisors this week approved Sheriff Bob Doyle's request for a $25,000 state grant to collect demographic data from traffic stops and determine whether racial profiling plays a role in them.
Gov. Gray Davis has asked the California Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies to collect the data in response to widespread concerns that lawmen are unfairly singling out racial minorities for traffic stops and vehicle searches.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the CHP and state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement alleging a pattern of race-based traffic stops. Since then, Davis has explicitly outlawed racial profiling and instructed the CHP to collect demographic data from its traffic stops.
Race, sex, and age Marin County Sheriff Bob Doyle has said his department has a strict policy against racial profiling or making unwarranted traffic stops. Still, the sheriff on Tuesday asked to participate with the CHP in compiling statistics of the race, sex, and age of people who get pulled over in Marin.
State legislators this year provided the Highway Patrol with $5 million to aid local law enforcement agencies in collecting the data and submitting it to the CHP, which will compile annual reports to the governor for the next three years, said CHP Commissioner Dwight "Spike" Helmick.
County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously supported Sheriff Bob Doyle's request for a $25,000 grant to offset the costs of collecting and submitting the information to Sacramento.
"I think it is a good thing for the county to collect statistics and see one way or another what comes out of it," said Supervisor Annette Rose, who suggested the Sheriff's Department also collect statistics on whether people who drive old, beat-up cars get pulled over disproportionately.
'Driving while poor' "I believe we've had a frequency in this county of making 'driving while poor' stops," she said.
Sheriff's Captain Tom McMains told The Light he believes the statistics will show that racial profiling is not as common as anecdotal evidence suggests. "I think it will show that this is not a pervasive thing in law enforcement," he said.
Commissioner Helmick said the statistics will break down traffic stops into five categories: arrests, citations, verbal warnings, written warnings, and vehicle searches. Drivers will be identified as white, African-American, Latino, Asian, or "other," he said.
Helmick said the Highway Patrol started collecting demographic data on its own last year to defend its record against complaints from civil libertarians and minority groups.
"This is an effort to determine once and for all whether there's any validity to this discussion or debate over racial profiling," he said. "I think the statistics will show we don't do that."