Bill Text: GA HB177 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Law enforcement officers; impermissibly use race or ethnicity to stop motorist; prohibit
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-02-09 - House Second Readers [HB177 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2011-HB177-Introduced.html
11 LC 29
4491
House
Bill 177
By:
Representatives Marin of the
96th,
Brooks of the
63rd,
Mitchell of the
88th,
Drenner of the
86th,
Floyd of the
99th,
and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 1 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to general provisions relative to motor vehicles and traffic, so as to require
policies that prohibit law enforcement officers from impermissibly using race or
ethnicity in determining whether to stop a motorist; to require annual training
of law enforcement officers on impermissible uses of race and ethnicity in
stopping vehicles; to require law enforcement officers to document the race,
ethnicity, and gender of a motorist and passengers; to provide for other matters
relative thereto; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Chapter
1 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general
provisions relative to motor vehicles and traffic, is amended by adding a new
Code section to read as follows:
"40-1-8.
(a)
Law enforcement officers shall not use a person's race or ethnicity to form
probable cause or reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle but may use a person's
race or ethnicity to confirm a previously obtained description of a
suspect.
(b)(1)
Each state and local law enforcement agency shall adopt a policy and implement
an annual training program regarding racial profiling that provides and
instructs that a law enforcement officer shall not use a person's race or
ethnicity to form probable cause or reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle but
may use a person's race or ethnicity to confirm a previously obtained
description of a suspect.
(2)
Except in instances where a vehicle is stopped in a fixed road block, each time
a state or local law enforcement officer stops a motor vehicle and issues a
citation or makes an arrest, that officer shall document the following
information in a public record whose format shall be determined by the
Department of Driver Services:
(A)
The gender of the driver;
(B)
The race or ethnicity of the driver;
(C)
The suspected violation that led to the stop;
(D)
Whether the vehicle, personal effects, driver, or any passenger was searched
and, if any passenger or his or her effects were searched, the passenger's
gender and the passenger's race or ethnicity;
(E)
Whether a search was conducted pursuant to consent, probable cause, or
reasonable suspicion to suspect a crime, including the approximate duration of
the search and the basis for the request for consent or the circumstances
establishing probable cause or reasonable suspicion;
(F)
Whether contraband was found, the type and approximate amount of contraband, and
whether contraband was seized;
(G)
Whether the officer making the stop encountered any physical resistance, whether
the officer engaged in the use of force, and whether injuries
resulted;
(H)
Whether the circumstances surrounding the stop were the subject of any
investigation; and
(I)
The location of the stop.
(3)
If a law enforcement officer stops a motor vehicle and no citation or written
warning is issued to the motorist, then the officer, upon request of the
motorist, shall provide a card showing the officer's name, badge number, and the
name of the officer's law enforcement agency.
(4)
Law enforcement agencies shall maintain the data required to be collected under
paragraph (2) of this subsection for not less than seven years.
(5)
As part of its personnel review or evaluation procedures provisions, each law
enforcement agency shall include complaints filed and other information designed
to evaluate whether or not each law enforcement officer employed by such agency
is complying with the provisions of paragraph (2) of this subsection. Any
officer found not to be complying with the provisions of paragraph (2) of this
subsection shall be required to undergo further training that meets the
requirements of paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(6)
Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to alter the requirements for
determining probable cause or reasonable suspicion under the Constitution of the
United States or the Constitution of the State of
Georgia."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.