Thread: Arizona DPS tightens rules to avoid racial profiling

Arizona DPS tightens rules to avoid racial profiling
Reported by: ABC15.com staff, wire reports
Last Update: 8:33 am

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The Arizona Department of Public Safety is implementing policy changes, on vehicle searches, in an effort to prevent racial profiling, according to a Tuesday report.

The announcement Tuesday said the changes include requiring that DPS officers have "reasonable suspicion of criminal activity" before requesting consent for a search.

Another change is that officers must document things they observed that resulted in their suspicion of criminal activity.

The changes were recommended by an advisory board that worked with the DPS and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.

The board itself was created in 2006, as part of a settlement agreement of a lawsuit alleging racial profiling.

http://tinyurl.com/7up86k

Which is about like racial profiling the Chinese in China!

"Documenting what they observe"

This looks like another tool for crafty lawyers who will be able to obtain these public records. They will then go over them with a fine tooth comb looking for flaws and "illegally obtained evidence" or whatever else they may use to overturn a conviction or arrest.

More rule by lawyers.

Law enforcement uses profiling in identifying other criminial activity all the time.

Originally Posted by WorriedAmerican

Which is about like racial profiling the Chinese in China!

Arizona Police to End Racial Profiling
Signed search permission now required.

PHOENIX -- The Arizona Department of Public Safety plans to implement a series of procedural changes aimed at avoiding arrests of motorists based on racial profiling, Gov. Janet Napolitano's office said in a press statement.

Among the reforms is a rule requiring DPS officers to have a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before making a stop.

Highway patrol officers must also obtain a signed authorization from the driver before searching a vehicle and document everything they observe during a search.

The root of the new procedures is a 2003 federal court ruling ordering the DPS to halt racial profiling.

Napolitano, who has been nominated by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as secretary of U.S. Homeland Security, responded to the judicial ruling by appointing a nine-member commission to make recommendations on how best to comply.

Just as the DPS is preparing to implement the new regulations, the Arizona chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union released a report showing that Hispanic motorists are stopped more often on the state's roads than drivers from other ethnic groups.

The study, based on 2007 data, also confirmed that Latinos and African Americans receive the largest number of fines for traffic offenses.

However effective it proves to be, the new DPS policy will not be binding on Arizona's local law enforcement agencies, some of which have used traffic stops as a tool to enforce the state's growing list of laws targeting illegal immigration.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose jurisdiction includes Phoenix, is particularly aggressive in tracking down undocumented immigrants.

Elected for the first time in 1992, the self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff in the West" has made his department the only Arizona law enforcement agency to enforce a state law that permits authorities to file conspiracy charges against undocumented immigrants who admit having paid people-smugglers, known as "coyotes," to sneak them across the border into the United States.

Copyright Latin American Herald Tribune - 2008 © All rights reserved

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Article ... ryId=13003

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

Originally Posted by WorriedAmerican

Which is about like racial profiling the Chinese in China!

Thats basically it. What are they supposed to do? Look for "white people only"? Asian, Irish, Indian, and many other people never complain about racial profiling. Could it be because Mexicans who happen to be Hispanics, make up the biggest sector of ILLEGAL ALIENS than any other group of people? Gee, I wonder?

I guess the Govenor doesn't want to inconvience Drug Smugglers,Human Smugglers, Terroist etc. . !!!