EQUAL TREATMENT?

CHP Asks Questions Other Police Agencies Should Ask, Too.

California Highway Patrol Commissioner D.O. "Spike" Helmick has ordered his
officers for the next six months to end consent searches -- traffic stops
in which officers ask and "receive" motorists' permission to search their cars.

Helmick says his order has nothing to do with a lawsuit the American Civil
Liberties Union has filed accusing the CHP of racial profiling.

The ACLU claims that evidence gathered in discovery proceedings for that
lawsuit shows widespread discrimination against Latino and African-American
motorists.

Helmick denies his officers discriminate. Nonetheless, he told The Bee he
wanted his chiefs to review statistics to ensure race didn't play a role in
those consent searches or, in his words, to find out "if everyone is
getting treated fairly." Good for Helmick and the CHP.

The commissioner's actions should be instructive to law enforcement leaders
throughout the state who are sincere when they say they want to stop racial
profiling.

Helmick is able to review statistics to determine "if everyone is getting
treated fairly" only because the CHP has compiled information on the race
and ethnicity of the people its officers stopped. Without such information,
no review is possible.

The CHP is not the only police agency in the state suspected of unfairly
targeting African-American and Latino residents. Unfortunately, unlike the
Highway Patrol, most are not collecting the information that allows them to
determine whether their officers discriminate.

Los Angeles Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh has introduced AB 788, a bill that
would require all police agencies in the state to collect and record the
race and ethnicity of the people they stop.

In its current form, the bill is hurt by a provision that would saddle
individual officers with personal liability for violating prohibitions
against racial profiling.

Such a threat could constrain officers from performing their legitimate
duties. If that provision is removed, the bill deserves the enthusiastic
support of the Legislature.

Gov. Gray Davis refused to support mandatory data collection last year.
Instead, he ordered only the Highway Patrol to record the race and
ethnicity of the motorists it stopped. He urged but did not require local
police agencies to do the same.

Sadly, voluntary data collection has not worked. Only 70 of 385 California
police agencies took advantage of the grants offered by the Davis
administration to pay for data collection.

Citizens are entitled to equal treatment under the law. Most police
departments say they provide equal treatment. To prove it, they should
support the mandatory data collection provisions in the Firebaugh bill.