SPONSOR: Dogan
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass" by the Special Committee on Criminal Justice by a vote of 8 to 2.
This bill establishes various provisions that shall be known and cited as "The John Ashcroft Fourth Amendment Affirmation Act", relating to the prohibition against discriminatory policing. The bill adds to the information about when an officer is required to report each time he or she stops a driver of a motor vehicle, and it adds to the Attorney General's responsibilities regarding the analyzing of reports compiled by each law enforcement agency relating to discriminatory policing.
The bill requires each law enforcement agency to adopt a policy on discriminatory policing, as well as a policy eliminating discriminatory policing in the administration of consent searches, and it provides what such policy shall accomplish.
This bill is similar to HB 2070 (2020).
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that John Ashcroft said America has a moral obligation to end racial profiling. It taints the entire criminal justice system. We have to make sure that our citizens feel like they are being treated fairly. Not trying to double the time officers spend when collecting and documenting data. Policy changes laid out in this bill is a way to lessen the impact of implicit bias. This will help officers raise their consciousness, too, when filling out traffic reports. This will strengthen trust between police and communities. Racial profiling alienates communities from law enforcement.
Testifying for the bill were Representative Dogan; Jewish Community Relations Council; Arnie C. Dienoff; Susan Gibson; American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri; Nancy J Bates; Arthur Rizer; Rev Dr. Cassandra Gould, Missouri Faith Voices; Michael Bobzin, Criminal Justice Ministry; and Sarah Owsley and Mallory Rusch, Empower Missouri.
OPPONENTS: There was no opposition voiced to the committee.
Written testimony has been submitted for this bill. The full written testimony can be found under Testimony on the bill page on the House website.
Statutes affected: