Alabama Bill Hopes To Combat Racial Profiling From Police Officers
An anti-racial profiling bill is on its way to being approved in Alabama.
Introduced by Sen. Rodger Smitherman (a Democratic member of the Alabama Senate in Birmingham), Senate Bill 192 would require the race, gender, and age of both the police officer and the person stopped by the officer to be recorded on a form. The form would also include the location of the stop and the reason for the stop.
From there, police and sheriff departments and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency would have to report those summaries annually to the state attorney general's office, which would review the information and provide a report to the Legislature and the governor.
The bill was inspired by Smitherman and two other black members of the committee (Reps. Thomas Jackson, a member of the Alabama House of Representatives in Thomasville, and Mary Moore, a member of the Alabama House of Representatives in Birmingham), who shared their experiences on being stopped by police on multiple occasions because of the color of their skin.
The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee have approved Smitherman's bill, and it has been sent to the House. It has already passed the Senate.
Smitherman's bill was first introduced back in 2015.
An app has been created in hopes of combating racial profiling from police officers. Called Legal Equalizer the app begins recording a person's interaction with police as soon as it is opened. It also includes an emergency button that sends both video and a GPS location to three preselected contacts once the app is closed.
