VOP’s Statewide Racial Profiling Campaign Committee has a new approach this year, and it is getting attention and support from decision makers.

VOP still supports data collection on all traffic stops and still plans to see it come to Virginia. But in the Fall of 2006, the Committee came up with goals related to racial profiling and training, as described in the January issue of virginia.organizing.

In the run-up to the 2007 General Assembly session, members of the VOP Statewide Racial Profiling Campaign Committee met with Senator Ken Stolle, chair of the Courts of Justice Committee and of the Virginia Crime Commission, as well as with leaders of the Virginia Sheriffs Association and Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police and with the director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).

From these meetings came a proposal to create a new position at DCJS, a bias-based policing coordinator. Senator Stolle introduced this as an amendment to the state budget. However, during a General Assembly short session dominated by transportation funding issues, these funds were not appropriated.

In a note of appreciation to Senator Stolle, Committee member Richael Faithful wrote, “I do not believe our conversations about this important issue over the months were in vain. With or without legislation, it will be the leadership of people like you that will ultimately change hearts, minds and policies.”

In 2007, VOP will be asking Governor Tim Kaine to include this proposal in his upcoming budget, which the newly-elected General Assembly will consider in the 2008 session. We will also be asking Governor Kaine to require the Virginia State Police to collect data on all traffic stops.

Governor Kaine was a fair housing lawyer before reaching statewide office, and has described his work against housing discrimination as “the center of my professional life.” He has substantial experience with using data to establish patterns of racial disparity, and should be more open to the idea of data collection as a tool against biased policing than a typical Governor of Virginia.

“We believe that, from his 18 years of work on fair housing, Governor Kaine understands both the pain of discrimination and the need for data to show that subtle and unconscious discrimination exists,” said Mary Johns, also a member of the Committee. “For this reason, we are hopeful that, if we can reach him personally, we can move Virginia towards data collection. Consistent collection and analysis of data will allow us to more fully understand the realities of discrimination. We will then be equipped to respond with a variety of creative and effective strategies, such as better training.”

Committee members also plan to meet with a number of other key players in the field of law enforcement. If you are concerned about this issue, the Committee can provide you with resources to get more active.

For more information, talk to your local VOP organizer or contact Larry Yates at llyates@shentel.net or (540) 436-3432.