On Tuesday, Senator Jamilah Nasheed introduced The Fair & Impartial Policing Act, a new bill that would demand that Missouri police to record the “perceived” sexual orientation of drivers stopped for whatever reason.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
New state legislation unveiled Tuesday would expand the current process of data collection that police officers in Missouri are required to follow during traffic stops to include not just race, but also “perceived” sexual orientation, as well as religion, “disability” and “English language proficiency.”
At a news conference, Nasheed said, “This is not an attack on law enforcement. We’re trying to weed out the bad cops.”
She hopes to do this by requiring officers to round up demographic data for pedestrian stops as well as traffic stops.
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The proposed legislation would impose consequences for departments that show a pattern for racial profiling, including sensitivity training, state funding reductions, and even department decertification.
According to ACLU-Missouri Executive Director Jeffrey Mittman, “There exists police bias across many categories, and it’s important to address them all.”
Data suggests that “driving while black” is a very real offense in the eyes of many Missouri officers and departments.