RULES OK LIMITED USE OF RACIAL PROFILING

WASHINGTON -- The US Justice Department issued guidelines yesterday that
permit federal law enforcement to use race and ethnicity to identify
suspected terrorists, but ban racial profiling in routine police work.

With the approval of President Bush, the department sent all federal law
enforcement agencies the guidelines forbidding officers from using race as
a factor in routine decision making.

The guidelines forbid racial profiling in regular police work, even where
such profiling would otherwise be permitted by the US Constitution. For
example, under the new rules, federal officers cannot use race or ethnicity
when deciding which motorists to stop for traffic violations. But the rules
allow race or ethnicity to be used when there is ''trustworthy
information'' that links persons of a particular race or ethnicity to a
criminal incident or organization.

There is also a caveat for officers who are trying to prevent future
terrorist attacks like the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

''The racial profiling guidance, therefore, recognizes that race and
ethnicity may be used in terrorist identification,'' said a the Justice
Department.

''Federal law enforcement officers who are protecting national security or
preventing catastrophic events (as well as airport security screeners) may
consider race, ethnicity, and other relevant factors to the extent
permitted by our laws and the Constitution,'' the guidelines said. The
guidelines are for federal officers only, but officials said they hoped
they would eventually be a model for state and local police.

Civil rights organizations had complained that members of minority groups
have been unfairly singled out and targeted by many police departments for
searches and stops.