Pubdate: Wed, 29 Sept 1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Author: John Howard-AP DAVIS VETOES BILL AIMED AT RACIAL PROFILING LAWS: Forcing Police To Keep Records On The Race Of People They Stop Would Be Too Big A Burden,The Governor Says. SACRAMENTO- An attempt to gauge possible race based vehicle stops by the Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies by forcing them to track motorists' ethnicity was vetoed Tuesday by Gov. Gray Davis, who said the controversial bill could cost too much and place a heavy burden on police. The Democratic governor said in his veto message about the "driving-while-black or brown" bill that he found so called racial profiling "abhorrent." But Davis said there is "no evidence that this practice is taking place statewide requiring sweeping legislation that mandates state scrutiny of every local law-enforcement agency in California." The governor's action was immediately criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union, which described racial profiling "as the leading civil rights issue of the 1990s" The ACLU earlier filed a federal suit against two state agencies - the CHP and the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement - accusing both of racial profiling. The bill by Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City, would have required the CHP and major police and sheriff's departments to record detailed information on their traffic enforcement activities, including total stops, the number of arrests, warnings and citations, the number of searches and the reasons for the stops. Murray, who is black, was pulled over in Beverly Hills in his Corvette a few hours after an election-night victory last year. He said he was never given a reasonable explanation for the stop. He has since filed a lawsuit accusing police officers of targeting blacks and other minority group members in traffic stops; that case is pending. A number of similar cases have occurred across the country. "I'm going to reintroduce the bill. This issue is not going away," Murray said shortly after the governor announced his decision. "This is a problem across the nation. And now the most populous state with the largest minority population is going to do nothing about it," Murray added. The governor noted that at least four major departments - in San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Alameda County - already compile such information on their vehicle stops, and that other departments plan to follow suit. Moreover, the CHP plans to begin compiling information voluntarily beginning in January. And although Davis in his veto message said he opposed the gathering of such information at the state level, he urged local officials to demand that their law-enforcement agencies do exactly the same thing. - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto