[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 22, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF END RACIAL PROFILING ACT OF 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 22, 2015

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the End Racial 
Profiling Act of 2015, along with additional cosponsors. This 
legislation represents a comprehensive federal commitment to healing 
the rift caused by racial profiling and restoring public confidence in 
the criminal justice system at-large. This legislation is designed to 
enforce the constitutional right to equal protection of the laws by 
changing the policies and procedures underlying the practice of 
profiling.
  This legislation can be traced back to the data collection efforts of 
the late 1990's that were designed to determine whether racial 
profiling was a fact rather than an urban legend. Based upon the work 
around that legislation, by September 11, 2001, there was significant 
empirical evidence and wide agreement among Americans, including 
President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft, that racial profiling was 
a tragic fact of life in the minority community and that the Federal 
government should take action to end the practice.
  Moreover, many in the law enforcement community have also 
acknowledged that singling out people for heightened scrutiny based on 
their race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin had eroded the 
trust in law enforcement necessary to appropriately serve and protect 
our communities.
  During our 112th Congress Judiciary Committee hearing on racial 
profiling, we approached the issue from the perspective of ``smart 
policing'' and what makes sense in a time of austerity for protecting 
public safety. I believe that it became clear during the hearing that 
enough agreement exists to allow us to re-open the bipartisan dialogue 
on racial profiling commenced by President Bush and Attorney General 
Ashcroft.
  Despite the fact that the majority of law enforcement officers 
perform their duties professionally and without bias--and we value 
their service highly--the specter of racial profiling has contaminated 
the relationship between the police and minority communities to such a 
degree that federal action is justified to begin addressing the issue. 
While the Department of Justice reissued a series of guidelines in 
December 2014 which were designed to end the practice of racial 
profiling by federal law enforcement agencies, these measures still do 
not reach the vast majority of racial profiling complaints arising from 
the routine activities of state and local law enforcement agencies.
  Further, the guidelines provide no enforcement mechanism or methods 
for identifying law enforcement agencies not in compliance and, 
therefore, fail to resolve the racial profiling problem nationwide. In 
this instance, there is no substitute for comprehensive federal anti-
profiling legislation.
  The End Racial Profiling Act is designed to eliminate the well 
documented problem of racial, ethnic, religious, gender, sexual 
orientation, gender identity and national origin profiling. First, the 
bill provides a prohibition on racial profiling, enforceable by 
declaratory or injunctive relief. Second, the bill mandates that 
training on racial profiling issues as part of Federal law enforcement 
training, the collection of data on all routine or spontaneous 
investigatory activities that is to be submitted through a standardized 
form to the Department of Justice.
  Third, the Justice Department is authorized to provide grants for the 
development and implementation of best policing practices, such as 
early warning systems, technology integration, and other management 
protocols that discourage profiling. Finally, the Attorney General is 
required to provide periodic reports to assess the nature of any 
ongoing discriminatory profiling practices.
  Recent events in the wake of Ferguson, Missouri demonstrate that 
racial profiling remains a divisive issue in communities across the 
nation that strikes at the very foundation of our democracy. The deaths 
of Walter L. Scott--arising from a traffic stop--Michael Brown, Eric 
Garner, and Antonio Zambrano-Montes--all at the hands of police 
officers--highlight the links between the issues of race and reasonable 
suspicion of criminal conduct. Ultimately, these men are tragic 
examples of the risk of being victimized by a perception of criminality 
simply because of their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. 
These individuals were denied the basic respect and equal treatment 
that is the right of every American.
  Decades ago, in the face of shocking violence, the passage of 
sweeping civil rights legislation made it clear that race should not 
affect the treatment of an individual American under the law. I believe 
that thousands of pedestrian and traffic stops of innocent minorities 
and needless killings or use of excessive force by the police call for 
a similar federal response. The practice of using race or other 
characteristics as a proxy for criminality by law enforcement seriously 
undermines the progress we have made toward achieving equality under 
the law. Please join me in supporting this legislation.

                          ____________________