ACLU: Drug war increases racial profiling on roads

NEW YORK - The war on drugs has greatly increased the number of traffic
stops based on race, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report
Wednesday.

"Skin color has become a substitute for evidence in a way that really
resembles Jim Crow justice on the nation's highways," executive director Ira
Glasser said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's "Operation Pipeline" has trained at
least 27,000 law enforcement officials on how to spot drug couriers on
highways and has unfairly created a perception that minorities are more
likely to possess drugs, Glasser said.

The ACLU has filed lawsuits in Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Oklahoma
challenging profiling.

The report is largely a collection of case studies from 23 states.

The ACLU is asking police departments to voluntarily document incidents of
racial profiling. Departments in San Diego and San Jose, Calif., have such
programs.

In April, North Carolina became the first state to pass a law requiring data
on all traffic stops. A similar bill has been introduced in Florida.