SACRAMENTO – On September 15, 2015, California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona sent a letter to Governor Jerry Brown expressing CSLEA’s opposition to Assembly Bill 953 and respectfully requesting the Governor’s veto.
AB 953 would enact the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015. AB953 would modify the definition of racial profiling, require state and local law enforcement to report specified information related to stops to the Attorney General’s office, and create a new Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board which would be comprised of up to 19 appointees – only 4 of them representatives from the law enforcement community.
“Ironically, this bill encourages racial profiling by requiring officers to report the perceived race, ethnicity, gender and age of the person stopped,” said Barcelona. “All of this based on the officer’s observation and perception and not the actual information provided by the person stopped.”
The bill would require officers to prepare written profile reports for every single stop , no matter how insignificant the incident, taking peace officers away from response, patrols and building relationships within the communities they serve.
“This bill is problematic on many levels and we sincerely hope the Governor recognizes that and vetoes it,” said Barcelona.
