Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 Source: State, The (SC) Copyright: 1999 The State Contact: http://www.thestate.com/ Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?thestate Author: Naftali Bendavid, Chicago Tribune CLINTON ORDERS FEDS TO COLLECT RACIAL DATA ON ROUTINE STOPS WASHINGTON -- Taking aim at the controversial practice known as racial profiling, President Clinton on Wednesday ordered federal police agencies to gather statistics on the racial makeup of those they target for traffic stops, border inspections and other routine searches. The action had been strongly urged by civil rights leaders, who have been complaining with increasing urgency that police officers conducting traffic stops unfairly single out blacks and Hispanics. Stepping further into the escalating, emotional controversy, Clinton also threw his support behind a bill that would gather similar statistics from state and local police. "We must stop the morally indefensible, deeply corrosive practice of racial profiling," Clinton said at a Justice Department conference on police-community relations. "It is wrong, it is destructive, and it must stop." Civil rights leaders were pleased at Clinton's recognition of an issue they have long struggled to inject into public discourse. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., sponsor of the bill Clinton endorsed Thursday, said the support would give the legislation momentum. "We have all heard stories of African- and Hispanic-Americans -- including many well-known actors, athletes, law-enforcement officers and legislators -- who have been stopped for the traffic infraction known as 'Driving While Black' or 'Driving While Brown,'" Conyers said. "I welcome the president's support." Ira Glasser, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, urged police groups to take note. The ACLU has sued several police agencies for alleged race-based traffic stops. "Now is the time for officials in law enforcement to stop denying that the problem exists and start working on how to end the practice," Glasser said. In South Carolina, the Highway Patrol just completed sensitivity training for its nearly 1,000 troopers. All officers in 1998 attended classes on dealing with minorities and various cultures, said Col. Wesley Luther. In Richland County, deputies have undergone cultural diversity and conflict resolution classes since 1996. Many also have participated in informal sessions to learn Spanish as the Hispanic population grows throughout the state. The matter is politically delicate for Clinton. He has made crime-fighting a centerpiece of his presidency and has reaped political rewards from his strong ties to police groups. But those groups strongly oppose gathering racial data as demanded by the civil rights leaders. "It shortcuts meaningful dialogue between the police and the community," Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said Thursday. "If anything, it exacerbates the gulf." Many police officers fear that any racial statistics regarding traffic stops will be used against them. "There are probably about one million traffic stops in a day," Pasco said. "If 100 are bad ones, that is one ten-thousandth -- but I promise you those 100 would be the story." Others questioned the significance of Clinton's action, as federal agencies are responsible for a tiny fraction of the sort of traffic stops that are of concern to civil rights groups. The vast majority of such stops and searches are made by city police departments, state highway patrols and county sheriff's offices. "When was the last time the Secret Service pulled you over to give you a speeding ticket, or a DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) agent stopped you for running a red light?" asked Richard J. Gallo, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. "Those who manage police agencies should be concerned about racial profiling, but federal agencies don't do traffic stops." Clinton, though, said he hopes the directive will set an example. The police brutality trials of police officers in the Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo cases in New York have prompted some recently to portray police racism as the dark underside of the successful crackdown on crime, and Clinton was at pains Wednesday to suggest otherwise. "Racial profiling is in fact the opposite of good police work, where actions are based on hard facts, not stereotypes," Clinton said. "As a society, we don't have to choose between keeping safe and treating people right, between enforcing the law and upholding civil rights. We can do both." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea