The bill requires law enforcement to hand out business cards, identifying the officer, to anyone stopped but not cited for a violation and to require law enforcement to compile statistics on traffic stops or complaints. Racial profiling is absolutely unacceptable. When Sen. Rob Hernandez, D-Denver, tells me emphatically that racial profiling is real, I won't dispute that. However, I believe that most people in law enforcement try to do their job fairly. HB 1114 makes the right statement against racial profiling, but it then requires police to gather statistics without setting guidelines to explain how those statistics determine whether or not profiling is a problem.
Law enforcement winds up in a no-win situation.
When officers conclude that it's easier to write a ticket than to simply issue a warning, no one should be surprised when more tickets are issued. In the end, I voted against this bill. Racial profiling is a problem, but the solution should be fair to both victims and to law enforcement. Sen. Mark Hillman, R-Burlington, is the Senate assistant minority leader and a member of the Agriculture and Judiciary Committees. All rights reserved.