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FOR PLANNING PURPOSES
What: | March on the Capitol and Rally for Justice to call on the state legislature and Governor Brown to take a stand against biased policing by passing and signing AB 953: The Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 |
Who: | Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) and Hundreds of Californians, including victims of police misconduct, families of victims, faith leaders and congregation members, youth, and other concerned residents |
Where: | St. John’s Lutheran Church, 1701 L Street, Sacramento, California |
When: | Wednesday, Sep. 2, 2015
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Background
AB 953: The Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 was introduced by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) to combat racial and identity profiling by law enforcement.
While the country reels from recent high profile incidents of police abuse and violence against civilians, California holds the ominous record for the highest number of deaths at the hands of law enforcement this year. Alarmingly, the Los Angeles Police Department has killed more people than any other agency in the country.
These appalling statistics paint a stark picture of status of police-community relations, particularly those between police and communities of color. In fact, unarmed black men are seven times more likely than unarmed white men to die by police gunfire.
Precisely because these lethal interactions often begin with racially biased police stops, AB 953 is a bill that will not only combat racial profiling, but also aid in addressing the disproportionate rates at which people of color are being killed by police.
If approved, AB 953 would:
- Update California’s definition of racial and identity profiling to be in line with federal recommendations by including other demographic characteristics, such as gender and sexual orientation.
- Require that California law enforcement agencies uniformly collect and report data on stops, frisks, and other interactions with the communities they serve.
- Establish an advisory board to analyze stop data and develop recommendations to address problems with disparate policing where they exist.
AB 953 moved out of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is now headed to the Senate floor for a full vote.
Editor’s Note: Visuals and interviews will be available throughout the day.
The Communities United Coalition is comprised of the six AB 953 cosponsor organizations: PICO California, ACLU of California, Youth Justice Coalition, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Reform California, and Dignity and Power Now as well as other organizations that also support the bill.
