A new statewide effort to combat racial profiling in police stops got underway Friday, with the first meeting of the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board in Los Angeles. Managing editor Tami Roleff says in a week with news of shootings—both by and at police—California is taking concrete steps to fight racial profiling…
The first meeting of the new Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board met Friday in Los Angeles. The board was established through legislation passed last fall, which also requires officers to record the perceived racial and identity profiles of every person they stop by 2018. Daniel Suvor, chief of policy for the state’s attorney general, says the goal is to come up with training programs that can restore the relationship of trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve.
“Infusing data and metrics into this conversation will bring about accountability and transparency, because we know how bias is destructive to trust, and debilitating for a lot of communities of color.”
Daniel Silard, who serves on the new board, is hopeful about the board’s potential to make improvements.
“The diversity of folks represents a pretty powerful cross-section of law enforcement, and academics and clergy, and civil rights leaders and community leaders, who would be advocating for sufficient resources behind this effort.”
The board is tasked with drafting regulations on how the traffic stop data will be reported, and will produce an annual report on California’s progress in eliminating racial profiling.
NEW RACIAL PROFILING BOARD MET FRIDAY FOR FIRST TIME
