COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 676
(By Senator Unger)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 25, 2005.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17G-1-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §17G-2-3 of said
code, all relating to racial profiling; and setting forth
types of racial profiling information to be collected during
law-enforcement traffic stops.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17G-1-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §17G-2-3 of said code be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. RACIAL PROFILING DATA COLLECTION.
§17G-1-2. Information obtained by law-enforcement officers during
a traffic stop.
Each time a law-enforcement officer stops a driver of a motor
vehicle for a violation of any motor vehicle statute or ordinance,
other than for a nonviolation stop, including, but not limited to,
a checkpoint for driving under the influence, license, registration or seat belts, the officer shall obtain and prepare a brief report
based on the officer's visual observation and perception of basic
information about the nature, duration and outcome of the stop,
including, but not limited to, information relating to the
perceived racial characteristics of each operator stopped. The
report is to be provided to the West Virginia law-enforcement
agency which employs the law-enforcement officer:
Provided, That
the failure of the law-enforcement officer to obtain and report
racial profiling data shall not affect the validity of the
underlying traffic citation or warning.
The information to be collected shall
only include:
(a) The identifying characteristics of the operator stopped,
including perceived race, ethnicity or national origin, gender and
age;
(b) The location and duration of the stop;
(c) The traffic violation or violations alleged to have been
committed that led to the stop;
(d) Whether or not a warning or citation was issued as a
result of the stop and if so, the specific violation, if any,
charged or warning given;
(e) Whether a search was performed as a result of the stop;
(f) If a search was performed, whether the person consented to
the search, the probable cause or reasonable suspicion for the
search, whether the person was searched, whether the person's
property was searched and the duration of the search;
(g) If a search was of a passenger in the motor vehicle, the perceived age, gender and race or minority group of the passenger;
(h) Whether any contraband was discovered or seized in the
course of the search and the type of any contraband discovered or
seized;
(i) Identify whether the search involved canine units or
advanced technology; and
(j) Any additional information which the law-enforcement
agency considers appropriate.
(a) The perceived race, ethnicity or national origin, gender
and age of the operator stopped;
(b) The county and duration of the stop;
(c) Whether or not a warning or citation was issued as a
result of the stop;
(d) The law-enforcement agency conducting the stop;
(e) The date and time of the stop;
(f) Officer's permanent i.d. number;
(g) Whether a search was performed as a result of the stop
(h) Search authority; and
(i) Whether any contraband was discovered or seized in the
course of the search and the type of any contraband discovered or
seized.
ARTICLE 2. ANALYSIS OF TRAFFIC STOPS STUDY AND ANNUAL REPORT BY
DIRECTOR OF THE GOVERNOR'S COMMITTEE ON CRIME,
DELINQUENCY AND CORRECTION.
§17G-2-3. Analysis of traffic stop statistics, annual report and legislative rules.
(a) To facilitate the commencement of data collection on the
first day of January, two thousand
five six, the
Commissioner of
the Division of Motor Vehicles, in consultation with the Director
of the Governor's Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Corrections
in consultation with the division of motor vehicles shall propose
emergency and legislative rules in accordance with article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. These rules shall include,
but
and are
not limited to:
(1) The manner of reporting the information to the Division of
Motor Vehicles;
(2) Promulgation of a form or forms for reporting purposes by
various law-enforcement agencies;
(3) A means of reporting the information required in section
two, article one of this chapter on warning citations to the
Division of Motor Vehicles;
(4) In consultation with the Fraternal Order of Police, the
Sheriff's Association,
the Trooper's Association, the Deputy
Sheriff's Association,
the Chiefs of Police Association and
representatives of law-enforcement agencies, a means of providing
training to law-enforcement officers on completion and submission
of the data on the proposed form;
(5) A means of reporting back to individual law-enforcement
agencies, from time to time, at the request of a law-enforcement
agency on findings specific to that agency in an agreed-upon format
to allow the agency to evaluate independently the data provided;(6) A limitation that the data is to be used solely for the
purposes of this chapter;
(7) Safeguards to protect the identity of individual
law-enforcement officers collecting data required by section two,
article one of this chapter when no citation or warning is issued;
(8) Methodology for collection of gross data by
law-enforcement agencies and the analysis of the data;
(9) The number of motor vehicle stops and searches of motor
vehicles occupied by members of a perceived minority group; the
number of motor vehicle stops and searches of motor vehicles
occupied by persons who are not members of a minority group; the
population of minorities in the areas where the stops occurred;
estimates of the number of all vehicles traveling on the public
highways where the stops occurred; factors to be included in any
evaluation that the data may indicate racial profiling, racial
stereotyping or other race-based discrimination or selective
enforcement; and other data deemed appropriate by the Governor's
Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Correction for the analysis of
the protection of constitutional rights; and
(10) Protocols for reporting collected data by the Division of
Motor Vehicles to the Governor's Committee on Crime, Delinquency
and Correction and the analysis thereof.
(b) On or before the first day of February, two thousand six,
and each year thereafter, the Director of the Governor's Committee
on Crime, Delinquency and Correction shall publish a public report
of the data collected and provide a copy thereof to all law-enforcement agencies subject to this chapter and provide a copy
of the report and analysis of the data collected to the Governor
and to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.
(c) The provisions of sections two and three, article one of
this chapter and section two of this article shall become effective
after the thirty-first day of December,
two thousand four two
thousand five.
(d) The provisions of this chapter shall be of no force or
effect after the thirty-first day of December, two thousand seven.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to set forth the types of
racial profiling information to be collected at law-enforcement
traffic stops.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
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