'RACIAL PROFILING' DESERVES SEPARATE BILL

The terminology - "racial profiling" and "driving while black" - is
new. But the practice is old. Some law enforcement officers single out
motorists of color for stops because of their race. People of color
testify widely to this behavior, and studies, though few in number,
tend to back up the testimony.

Basing police stops on skin color is wrong and harmful; the practice
fuels racial tension. Policy-makers must do what they can to halt the
practice. Grasping the size and shape of the problem helps to fight
it.

Hence, a provision in the state budget - requiring officers to report
race and other data on every motorist they stop - has merit. The
problem is, it has no business being in the budget. After all, this
measure doesn't itself allocate a dime of the state's money.

This new mandate, opposed by law enforcement agencies, deserved its
own bill so that it could have gotten the proper airing. This is just
one of scores of measures that stowed away on the budget bill as it
sailed to the governor's desk, rather than seek passage on a separate
vessel, as it should have. The problem with the stowaways is that they
don't get the attention from the Legislature that major policy
initiatives deserve before becoming law.

Thus, Gov. Tommy Thompson should veto the reporting requirement for
traffic stops. Simultaneously, however, he should propose a separate
bill with the requirement, so that this important issue can get the
deliberation it deserves. Thompson should also throw his considerable
political weight behind the bill.

Yes, putting the drivers-identification measure to a separate vote
carries risks. The majority often isn't keen on bolstering minority
rights. But, shown the moral correctness of the measure, lawmakers can
be persuaded to support it, we believe.

Law enforcement agencies complain that the mandate would create more
paperwork - a complaint to which we're not altogether unsympathetic.
But the purpose is worthwhile and the paperwork minimal. After all,
driver's licenses - already collected by officers from people they
stop - list age, gender and other identifying characteristics. The
form could be constructed so that filling it out would take a mere
minute.

The driver-identification proposal deserves passage, but in an open
manner, not as a rider on the state budget.