Tuesday, June 01, 1999
Bill would track racial profiling of drivers
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — State Rep. Ray Miller could think of only one reason why a police officer stopped him as he drove his Jaguar one day last year through the white, wealthy suburb of Bexley: He's black.
Although many law enforcement agencies, including Bexley's, deny stopping motorists because of their race, the Columbus Democrat and many blacks contend it is a common practice.
It is called racial profiling: Stopping people who fit a certain profile — black males driving in white neighborhoods, for example.
Last week, one of Mr. Miller's Democratic colleagues in the Ohio House introduced legislation that could help determine whether the perception is reality.
Peter Lawson Jones' bill would require the attorney general's office to collect statistics from law enforcement agencies on the race, age and gender of the driver and passengers in any vehicle they stop. The statistics would include whether a citation or an arrest was issued and whether anything was taken.
“We need to have a sense of where it's happening and where it isn't,” said Mr. Jones, D-Shaker Heights.
One recent study by University of Toledo law professor David Harris found that blacks driving in the Toledo, Akron, Dayton and Columbus areas were twice as likely to get tickets as nonblacks — whites, Hispanics and other ethnic groups. Mr. Harris said it would be higher if other factors were applied.
He also claims an even higher percentage of black motorists are stopped, but not ticketed. But police agencies don't keep records by race if a citation is not issued.
Blacks aren't the only victims of profiling, said Mark Finnegan, senior attorney for the Equal Justice Foundation in Toledo.
He said the State Highway Patrol routinely stops vehicles of Latinos on or near the Ohio Turnpike, searching for drugs and sometimes confiscating immigration cards.
Often there is no citation issued and no record of the stops, Mr. Finnegan said.
“For the Highway Patrol to investigate immigration infractions, which they know nothing about, is like stopping Mormons and asking them if they practice bigamy,” he said.
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee has a temporary federal court order keeping the patrol from taking the immigration cards. A request for a permanent order is pending.
A patrol spokesman, Lt. John Born, said the patrol doesn't stop motorists based on who they are or what they look like.
Mr. Jones said his bill could change the way officers treat motorists, even if it doesn't confirm the perception of many blacks.
“Requiring people to track this might curb some of the excesses,” he said.
“They may be less inclined to make a bogus stop if they are being watched.”
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