RACIAL PROFILING LAWSUIT IS EXPANDED

In a move that broadens the legal fight over racial profiling, civil rights
groups on Tuesday expanded an existing federal lawsuit in San Jose into a
class action against police agencies accused of targeting minority
motorists in traffic stops.

The new complaint alleges that minority drivers have been systematically
pulled over on a stretch of Highway 152 near Pacheco Pass in recent years
under a state drug-interdiction program. The class action is backed by the
American Civil Liberties Union, California branches of the NAACP and
California's League of United Latin American Citizens.

Curtis Rodriguez, a Latino lawyer from San Jose, originally filed the suit
last June based on allegations that he was detained on Highway 152 for
discriminatory reasons. But the ACLU, which has filed similar suits in at
least eight other states, has transformed Rodriguez's case into a wider
examination of traffic stops of minority drivers in the Pacheco Pass area.

``The Latino community in California is gravely concerned about racial
profiling,'' said Marcos Contreras, LULAC's statewide director. ``We joined
this lawsuit because these practices have got to stop.''

The suit alleges that the California Highway Patrol and state Bureau of
Narcotics Enforcement use racial and ethnic stereotypes in selecting
subjects of traffic stops, an issue that has ignited a nationwide debate
over such practices in law enforcement.

California law enforcement officials steadfastly deny racial profiling, in
which police allegedly pull over minority drivers for minor traffic
infractions for the purpose of discovering a more serious offense, such as
drug trafficking.

``The defendants unequivocally deny (the) accusations of racist conduct,''
the state Attorney General's Office said in papers filed in defense of the
CHP and the narcotics bureau. ``The defendants deny that a policy, pattern
or practice of `racial profiling' exists within the CHP or BNE, or that
instances of `racial profiling,' should they occur, are tolerated.''

The CHP recently agreed to begin tracking the race of drivers pulled over
for traffic stops, even though Gov. Gray Davis two months ago vetoed a bill
that would have required all police agencies in the state to gather the
information. The San Jose Police Department earlier this year became the
first large department in the state to voluntarily begin gathering data on
traffic stops.

However, civil rights lawyers maintain the lawsuit is needed to halt racial
profiling. The suit alleges that African-American and Latino motorists are
routinely stopped because of a discriminatory law enforcement approach; in
addition to Rodriguez, the new complaint names two other minority drivers
who allege they were stopped on Highway 152 solely because of their race.

Defense lawyers in several criminal cases in San Jose federal court also
have recently attacked profiling on Highway 152, attempting to fight drug
charges by arguing that their clients' arrests were tainted by the CHP's
traffic stop program.