PROBE OF RACIAL PROFILING ORDERED

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton on Wednesday directed federal law
enforcement agencies to collect information on the race, ethnicity and sex
of the people they detain for questioning, a move aimed at developing data
needed to determine whether they unfairly target minorities for scrutiny.

Speaking at a Justice Department conference, Clinton said he had ordered
the collection of detailed data on who federal law enforcement agencies are
detaining and why. The Justice Department will then analyze the information
to determine whether the agencies engage in racial profiling, the practice
of targeting people for police examination based on their race or ethnicity.

"Racial profiling is in fact the opposite of good police work, where
actions are based on hard facts, not stereotypes,'' Clinton said. ``It is
wrong, it is destructive, and it must stop.''

The presidential order comes amid mounting criticism, from civil rights
leaders, of aggressive police tactics and it follows by a day the
conviction of a second New York City police officer in the brutal beating
of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. While crime is down nationwide, a broad
national report released last week by the Justice Department showed that
minorities continue to be significantly less satisfied than whites with
local law enforcement.

Clinton's directive marks the first time he has waded so decisively into
the issue of racial profiling, a subject of sharp disagreement between
civil rights advocates and law enforcement authorities.

While civil rights leaders have long complained about racial profiling,
citing a thick file of mostly anecdotal evidence, law enforcement officials
typically dismiss such complaints as more perception than fact.

Clinton said developing more detailed information about police stops can
bridge that gap. ``We all have an obligation to move beyond anecdotes to
find out who is being stopped and why,'' said Clinton.

The presidential order applies only to federal law enforcement agencies,
which typically come into contact with the public far less frequently than
do state and local police forces.

Already, some federal agencies are collecting the kind of data that would
be required by the presidential order. Last month, the U.S. Customs Service
began systematically collecting racial and ethnic data of the people
searched by its agents, amid widespread allegations of racial profiling.
More than a dozen lawsuits are pending against the agency, most alleging
that it unfairly targets minorities for searches.

Racial-profiling data -- or its absence -- no doubt will figure prominently
in the proliferation of civil rights lawsuits filed against police by
minority-group members around the country.

Among the cases in which race has become a point of contention is that
involving the fatal shooting of Tyisha Miller, 19, who was black, by four
white Riverside officers last December. The four were cleared of criminal
wrongdoing last month, but the FBI is still investigating the shooting,
which occurred while Miller sat unresponsive in her car, for possible civil
rights violations.

In his remarks, Clinton called on state and local police forces, who
operate outside federal jurisdiction, to begin collecting information about
who is being detained and searched by their officers and why.

San Jose's police department began voluntarily collecting data on police
stops June 1, and several other cities also have agreed to begin amassing
racial-profiling statistics. Bills similar to that pending in Congress have
been introduced in about a half-dozen state legislatures.

Many local law enforcement officials oppose such data collection, however,
calling it a waste of precious police resources and a hindrance to fighting
crime.

"I don't know what purpose is going to be served by law enforcement
officials recording your race, your sex, and your age,'' said Robert
Scully, executive director of the National Association of Police
Organizations.