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Obama administration unveils federal law enforcement profiling ban
The Obama administration has issued guidelines that ban federal law enforcement from profiling on the basis of race, religion, national origin and other characteristics, protocols the Justice Department hopes could be a model for local departments as the nation tackles questions about the role race plays in policing.
The policy, will also require new training and data collection.
Civil rights advocates said they welcomed the broader protections, but were disappointed that the guidelines will exempt security screening in airports and border checkpoints and will not be binding on local and state police agencies.
Though the guidelines, 5 years in the making, were not drafted in response to recent high-profile cases involving the deaths of black individuals at the hands of white police officers, they are nonetheless being released amid an ongoing national conversation about standards for police use of force, racial justice and the treatment of minorities by law enforcement.
“Particularly in light of certain recent incidents we have seen at the local level, and the widespread concerns about trust in the criminal justice process which so many have raised throughout the nation, it is imperative that we take every possible action to institute strong and sound policing practices,” said Attorney General Eric Holder, referring to the August shooting by a white police officer of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, and the chokehold death weeks earlier of a man in New York City.
Local grand juries declined to indict either officer. The Justice Department is investigating both cases.
The guidelines cover federal agencies within the Justice Department, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They also extend to local and state officers serving on joint task forces alongside federal agents.
Their practical impact remains to be seen, especially since local police officers are the ones primarily responsible for traffic stops, 911 calls and day-to-day interactions with the communities they patrol. But the Obama administration envisions the rules as a possible roadmap for local police, with Holder expected to brief local law enforcement officials Monday to encourage them to adopt the federal guidelines.
