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"ACLU's Driving While Black or Brown Campaign: Local Efforts Tackle Racial Profiling on Florida Highways"
By Maria Rivas
Contributing Writer
Perception is reality. And reality for many of Florida's minority motorists is their perception that racial profiling is occurring on our state's streets and highways. Widely-known as Driving While Black or "DWB," racial profiling is the discriminatory practice of substituting skin color for evidence as a basis of suspicion by law enforcement officials. Fueled by the "War on Drugs," the police stop people who they think fit a "drug courier" or "gang member" profile.
The ACLU has launched a national campaign against racial profiling. In our widely read 1999 report, Driving While Black: Racial Profiling on Our Nation's Highways, the ACLU makes five recommendations to end DWB, including a call for the U.S. Department of Justice to end the use of racial profiling in federally funded drug interdiction programs.
The ACLU is at the forefront of the campaign against racial profiling and calls on law enforcement agencies at all levels within Florida — federal, state, and local — to take concrete steps toward identifying where discriminatory practices exist and to address problems when they emerge.
As nothing is more concrete than actual data, the ACLU stresses the importance of data collection (race, ethnicity, gender, and age) at all police stops. Victims of racial profiling are often stopped, detained, and searched without being ticketed or arrested. Such data collection programs are a necessary component of an effective strategy toward identifying and combating profiling based on race or ethnicity.
Just the hint or perception that racial profiling is taking place engenders public mistrust of police, which in turn renders law enforcement officers less effective in performing their duties. Consequently, police and sheriffs agencies throughout the state should embrace data collection voluntarily. This clearly is a "winwin" proposition for all involved, for if statistical evidence reveals no problems, the police would be armed with evidence to dispel the perception that racial profiling occurs. And if the data discloses problems, the police are in a position to address the matter firsthand.
In January of this year, the Florida Highway Patrol began voluntarily collecting racial data, and the ACLU commends their initiative. We are currently requesting the data so that a determination can be made as to whether motorist profiling based on race and ethnicity is occurring.
During the legislative session earlier this year, state Senator Kendrick Meek and Representative Tony Hill sponsored bills requiring the collection of racial data and establishing a task force to study the issue of racial profiling. The bills died without hearings as a compromise was brokered with legislators. Representatives of the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Police Chiefs Association stated that their members would participate voluntarily. Ever vigilant, the ACLU has recently asked both associations for the data that has been collected thus far.
In MiamiDade County, the ACLU responded to several drafts of "Police Complaints and Race: An Independent Review Panel Preliminary Staff Report," which reviewed citizen complaints about police activity and "use of force" from 19941997. We found that the statistics in the panel's own report supported allegations of racial profiling and excessive use of force. The report indicated that 46%50% of all arrests made by the MetroDade Police Department were of AfricanAmericans — more than twice the percentage of AfricanAmericans in the county — a disproportionate and statistically significant amount.
The ACLU presented a statement at the Independent Review Panel's public hearing in December. The hearing was attended by U.S. Congresswoman Carrie Meek as well as by county commissioners, leaders in the local AfricanAmerican community, local civil rights groups, and numerous citizens who related their personal experiences with racial profiling. The panel's final report incorporated the ACLU's recommendation that racial data on stops be collected by law enforcement agencies in MiamiDade. The Board of County Commissioners is presently considering legislation to strongly "encourage or require" local police to collect racial data at all stops.
In an effort to reduce police resistance to the proposed legislation, the ACLU has been asked to provide a practical model for data collection that can be implemented easily by local police. We are in the process of drafting such a working model.
Aside from our data collection efforts, the ACLU of Florida also is participating in a nationwide campaign that encourages local radio stations with minority listeners to play a 25-second PSA that urges DWB victims to call a toll-free hotline (1-877-6-PROFILE) to report their complaint to the ACLU.
It is significant that the ACLU of Florida is in receipt of racial profiling complaints from not only motorists but also airport travelers, specifically those who passed through Miami International Airport. This phenomenon, derisively known as Flying While Black, is on the increase nationally. U.S. Customs agents have farreaching powers to force travelers to submit to patdowns, strip searches, and Xrays. According to a congressional report released by the General Accounting Office in April, AfricanAmericans are nearly nine times as likely as whites to be Xrayed, while Hispanics are nearly four times as likely.
An important element toward eliminating racial profiling in Florida is activism. The ACLU needs your assistance to capitalize on the enormous political momentum that has emerged around such racial and ethnic profiling. Please become active, even proactive within your area. Write your state and local government (ie police chief, sheriff, mayor, governor, and even newspaper editor) to demand that law enforcement officials commit to data collection as well as the eradication of racial profiling in Florida. Tell them that such data collection would increase public confidence in local law enforcement. Let's keep up the pressure, and arrest the racism in Florida!
To report a DWB incident, fill out the "Driver Profiling Complaint Form" on the national ACLU web site at www.aclu.org/profiling/report_incident/index.html or call the ACLU of Florida office (305) 576-2336. Outside Miami, call toll-free 1-877-6-PROFILE (7763453).
Maria Rivas is a University of Miami graduate student. She is coordinating the ACLU of Florida's Campaign Against Racial Profiling.
