Almost every African-American man will be subject to this sort of unfair treatment at least once, if not many times. And because no one hears about many of the incidents, no one does anything about it. With brutality on the other hand, these days, incidents of brutality at least come to light. The culprits may not be punished for their acts, but it is getting harder for the police to brutalize minorities without any fear of reprisals. The same cannot be said for harassing traffic stops.
Police can stop the cars of minorities with total impunity.
In fact, the Supreme Court recently expanded police powers by holding that police need not inform individuals stopped that they have a right not to consent to a search of their vehicles. Thus it appears that legislation to address these police stops is sorely needed. This bill will force police departments to keep track of the race and alleged traffic infractions of those they stop. It will also require them to note the rationale for any subsequent search and the contraband recovered. In this way, we will increase police awareness of the problem of targeting minorities for unwarranted stops and searches.