| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to racial profiling; prescribing responses |
| 3 | that the Attorney General may take upon an individual's |
| 4 | filing of a complaint alleging racial profiling against a |
| 5 | law enforcement officer or agency; providing an effective |
| 6 | date. |
| 7 |
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| 8 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 9 |
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| 10 | Section 1. If an individual files a complaint against a |
| 11 | law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency, or both, |
| 12 | alleging racial profiling, which is defined by the Florida |
| 13 | Department of Law Enforcement as "unequal treatment of any |
| 14 | person including stopping, questioning, searching, detention, or |
| 15 | arrest solely or primarily on the basis of their racial or |
| 16 | ethnic characteristics, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or |
| 17 | socioeconomic status," the Attorney General may respond to the |
| 18 | complaint by taking one or more of the following steps: |
| 19 | (1) Sending a written inquiry to the appropriate law |
| 20 | enforcement agency regarding the allegation and requesting a |
| 21 | written response or internal investigation, or both, of the |
| 22 | alleged incident of racial profiling. |
| 23 | (2) Initiating an investigation or policy review of the |
| 24 | named law enforcement agency within the Office of the Attorney |
| 25 | General. |
| 26 | (3) Referring the inquiry to the Criminal Justice |
| 27 | Standards and Training Commission for a policy review of the law |
| 28 | enforcement agency or to a local prosecutor to conduct a |
| 29 | criminal investigation. |
| 30 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2005. |