Assembly bill asks AG to study racial profiling

Erin Neff

Friday, April 20, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- With statistics showing that people searched and questioned at traffic stops are more apt to be minorities, the Assembly on Thursday agreed to ask the attorney general to study racial profiling.

Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, sponsored Assembly Bill 500 to have the attorney general's office study traffic stops in all counties with more than 100,000 residents.

The study would request information from law enforcement officers about the alleged infraction that led to the stop, the identifying characteristics of the driver and a statement of whether immigration status of the driver was questioned.

The report will also include information about whether the vehicle was searched, whether anything was seized and whether the driver was warned, cited or arrested.

"It is very difficult to imagine any activity more American than driving a car," Williams said. "When this activity is compromised, it is very painful."

Williams cited statistics that he said pointed to the so-called crime of "driving while black.'

He said 82 percent of all cars stopped nationwide with black drivers are searched. Williams also cited statistics that the average traffic stop for blacks or Hispanics is 12.5 minutes compared with 4.6 minutes for whites.

Black teens are instructed what to do "when, not if, they are stopped," Williams said.

Greg Brower, R-Reno, applauded Williams for bringing the measure to the Legislature in light of governor vetoes and highly-publicized legislative battles about the issue in other states.

"In other states in the country this issue has not been so easy to deal with," Brower said.

The measure passed unanimously with Vivian Freeman, R-Reno, and Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, absent.

It is now referred to the Senate.