Senate Bill sb1548

    Florida Senate - 2005                                  SB 1548

    By Senator Wilson





    33-1346-05

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to racial profiling;

  3         prescribing responses that the Attorney General

  4         may take upon the filing of a complaint

  5         alleging racial profiling against a law

  6         enforcement officer or agency; providing an

  7         effective date.

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  9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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11         Section 1.  If an individual files a complaint against

12  a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency, or both,

13  alleging racial profiling, which is defined by the Florida

14  Department of Law Enforcement as "unequal treatment of any

15  person including stopping, questioning, searching, detention,

16  or arrest solely or primarily on the basis of their racial or

17  ethnic characteristics, religion, gender, sexual orientation,

18  or socioeconomic status," the Attorney General may respond to

19  the complaint by taking one or more of the following steps:

20         (1)  Sending a written inquiry to the appropriate law

21  enforcement agency regarding the allegation and requesting a

22  written response or internal investigation, or both, of the

23  alleged incident of racial profiling.

24         (2)  Initiating an investigation or policy review of

25  the named law enforcement agency within the Office of the

26  Attorney General.

27         (3)  Referring the inquiry to the Criminal Justice

28  Standards and Training Commission for a policy review of the

29  law enforcement agency or to a local prosecutor to conduct a

30  criminal investigation.

31         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

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    Florida Senate - 2005                                  SB 1548
    33-1346-05




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 2                          SENATE SUMMARY

 3    Prescribes the investigatory powers of the Office of the
      Attorney General when it receives a complaint that
 4    alleges racial profiling by a law enforcement officer or
      agency.
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.