In Landmark Racial Profiling Settlement, Arizona Law Enforcement Agents Agree to Major Reforms

In Landmark Racial Profiling Settlement, Arizona Law Enforcement Agents Agree to Major Reforms

PHOENIX-In response to a class action lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and local attorneys, the Arizona Department of Public Safety has agreed to make sweeping reforms to prevent racial profiling by patrol officers along the state’s highways and streets.

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Under the settlement, Governor Janet Napolitano also agreed to create a nine-member citizens’ advisory board to review the Department of Public Safety’s practices and policies relating to racial profiling and traffic stop data and to make recommendations based on that review...

Other measures called for in the settlement include:

• Amending agency policies to prohibit officers from pulling over motorists on the basis of race or skin color;
• Training officers to comply with anti-racial profiling policies;
• Working toward the goal of having vehicle-based video systems in all department vehicles throughout the state to tape all traffic stops, detentions and searches; and,
• Requiring patrol officers to use a bi-lingual written consent form whenever a search is requested during a traffic stop.