Do You Believe in the Existence of Racial Profiling? Some White People Believe that You Believe it -- But Many Don't Believe it Exists

Arizona Police will add car cameras in Race profiling suit settlement

• For First Time, Highway Patrol Will Collect Racial Data on All Traffic Stops and Vehicle Searches Statewide

In response to a class-action lawsuit, the state Department of Public Safety agreed to a series of changes in its operations to ensure motorists are not stopped and searched solely because of the color of their skin. In an agreement described by an attorney as "a really historic first step," DPS officials will seek $750,000 to see that all of the more than 330 vehicles that patrol Arizona's interstate highways have video cameras. That will provide a record of not only who is being stopped, but what happens in each case - a record available to both the plaintiffs who sued the agency and the general public. The proposed settlement, unveiled Wednesday, contains no admission that any DPS officers have engaged in "racial profiling." And no money will be paid to the 11 plaintiffs who filed suit claiming that they were stopped because of their race. But the state, in settling the nearly 4-year-old lawsuit, agreed to pay nearly $140,000 in legal fees accumulated by Flagstaff attorney Lee Phillips and the Arizona Civil Liberties Union. The deal also requires the DPS to compile and analyze data of all its traffic stops to determine what happens next and create a citizens' advisory board to monitor the agency's practices and policies. ACLU Director Eleanor Eisenberg said the settlement is nearly as good as an admission the profiling claims are valid. "There has been acknowledgement that there is a need for change," she said. A 2003 Arizona Daily Star review of more than a quarter-million DPS records indicated the agency's officers searched Hispanics more often than Anglos - about 1 in 25 compared with 1 in 48. That was despite finding drugs, prohibited weapons and other contraband on 1 in 5 Hispanics compared with 1 in 3 Anglos. Also, officers searched 1 in 18 blacks despite finding contraband on 1 in 4. [more] and [more]

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