LAWMAKER - PATROL STOPS AND SEARCHES TOO OFTEN

RALEIGH - The state Highway Patrol is conducting too many roadside searches
if it is finding illegal drugs in only 20 percent of those stops, a
state lawmaker said Thursday.

"This business of stopping a car and bringing in drug dogs, that's
serious business," said Rep. Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe.

Nesbitt's comments came as the House Judiciary I Committee took up a
plan to try to determine if the Highway Patrol and other statewide law
enforcement agencies are stopping a disproportionate number of black
drivers.

The plan, sponsored by Sen. Frank Ballance, D-Warren, would require
that the information be compiled and analyzed by the state Attorney
General's Office. The agencies would be required to keep race, age and
gender statistics even on stops where officers only give drivers
verbal warnings.

Information about roadside searches would also be compiled.

The bill has already cleared the Senate. Thursday's hearing was the
first opportunity for House members to debate the merits of the bill.

Nesbitt said he had broader concerns than those addressed by the bill,
questioning whether arbitrary stops of all motorists were becoming
more common.

When told that only one in five searches uncovers illegal drugs, he
responded, "Four out of five don't have anything, and we put people
through that? That's too many."

But Joe Stewart, a spokesman for the Department of Crime Control and
Public Safety, said patrol policy requires troopers to have probable
cause to believe a crime has been committed before asking a driver's
consent to search a car.

Committee members generally praised the patrol but did say collection
of the statistics is needed to assure the practice of "racial
profiling" isn't happening in North Carolina.

The lawmakers questioned whether compiling the information would
require additional money. The Senate version of the plan includes no
money to implement the program.

The committee also agreed to drop a proposal that would have required
the Highway Patrol and other state law enforcement agencies to also
keep statistics on the race of passengers, as well as the driver.