[House Hearing, 107 Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] THE BENEFITS OF AUDIO-VISUAL TECHNOLOGY IN ADDRESSING RACIAL PROFILING ======================================================================= HEARING before the COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION __________ JULY 19, 2001 __________ Serial No. 107-36 __________ Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/congress/house http://www.house.gov/reform U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 2002 ____________________________________________________________________________ For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM DAN BURTON, Indiana, Chairman BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York HENRY A. WAXMAN, California CONSTANCE A. MORELLA, Maryland TOM LANTOS, California CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut MAJOR R. OWENS, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York JOHN M. McHUGH, New York PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania STEPHEN HORN, California PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii JOHN L. MICA, Florida CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York THOMAS M. DAVIS, Virginia ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, Washington, MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana DC JOE SCARBOROUGH, Florida ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland STEVEN C. LaTOURETTE, Ohio DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio BOB BARR, Georgia ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, Illinois DAN MILLER, Florida DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois DOUG OSE, California JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts RON LEWIS, Kentucky JIM TURNER, Texas JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia THOMAS H. ALLEN, Maine TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois DAVE WELDON, Florida WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri CHRIS CANNON, Utah DIANE E. WATSON, California ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida ------ ------ C.L. ``BUTCH'' OTTER, Idaho ------ EDWARD L. SCHROCK, Virginia BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee (Independent) Kevin Binger, Staff Director Daniel R. Moll, Deputy Staff Director James C. Wilson, Chief Counsel Robert A. Briggs, Chief Clerk Phil Schiliro, Minority Staff Director C O N T E N T S ---------- Page Hearing held on July 19, 2001.................................... 1 Statement of: Dinh, Viet, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice.................................................... 25 King, Rachel, legislative director, American Civil Liberties Union; Raymond Kelly, former Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service; Brian Boykin, fellow, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; and Chris Maloney, president, TriTech Systems, Inc............................ 117 West, Hon. Royce, Texas Senate; Hon. Robert Duncan, Texas Senate; Charles Dunbar, Jr., superintendent, New Jersey State Police; Mark Finnegan, esq., Heberle and Finnegan, Ltd.; and Robert Wilkins, esq.............................. 65 Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Boykin, Brian, fellow, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, prepared statement of.............. 143 Burton, Hon. Dan, a Representative in Congress from the State of Indiana, prepared statement of.......................... 7 Clay, Hon. Wm. Lacy, a Representative in Congress from the State of Missouri, prepared statement of................... 15 Dinh, Viet, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, prepared statement of............................. 28 Finnegan, Mark, esq., Heberle and Finnegan, Ltd., prepared statement of............................................... 75 Kelly, Raymond, former Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service, prepared statement of...................................... 136 King, Rachel, legislative director, American Civil Liberties Union, prepared statement of............................... 120 Maloney, Chris, president, TriTech Systems, Inc., prepared statement of............................................... 148 Morella, Hon. Constance A., a Representative in Congress from the State of Maryland, prepared statement of............... 62 Schakowsky, Hon. Janice D., a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, prepared statement of............... 3 Shays, Hon. Christopher, a Representative in Congress from the State of Connecticut, prepared statement of............ 23 Towns, Hon. Edolphus, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York, prepared statement of................... 2 Wilkins, Robert, esq., prepared statement of................. 82 THE BENEFITS OF AUDIO-VISUAL TECHNOLOGY IN ADDRESSING RACIAL PROFILING ---------- THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2001 House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:25 a.m., in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dan Burton (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Burton, Barr, Gilman, Morella, Shays, Platts, Cannon, Waxman, Owens, Maloney, Norton, Cummings, Kucinich, Tierney, Turner, Clay and Watson. Staff present: Kevin Binger, staff director; James C. Wilson, chief counsel; David A. Kass, deputy chief counsel; Mark Corallo, director of communications; Andre Hollis, counsel; Kevin Long and Michael Canty, professional staff members; Sarah Anderson, staff assistant; Robert A. Briggs, chief clerk; Robin Butler, office manager; Josie Duckett, deputy communications director; John Sare, deputy chief clerk; Danleigh Halfast, assistant to chief counsel; Corinne Zaccagnini, systems administrator; Phil Schiliro, minority staff director; Phil Barnett, minority chief counsel; Sarah Despres and Tony Haywood, minority counsels; Denise Wilson, minority professional staff member; Ellen Rayner, minority chief clerk; and Jean Gosa and Earley Green, minority assistant clerks. Mr. Burton. Good morning. A quorum being present, the committee will come to order. I ask unanimous consent that all Members' and witnesses' written opening statements be included in the record, and, without objection, so ordered. [The prepared statements of Hon. Edolphus Towns and Hon. Janice D. Schakowsky follow:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.002 Mr. Burton. I ask unanimous consent that all articles, exhibits and extraneous or tabular material referred to be included in the record, and, without objection, so ordered. I also ask unanimous consent that questioning in this matter proceed under clause 2(j)(2) of House rule 11 and committee rule 14 in which the chairman and ranking minority member allocate time to the committee members as they deem appropriate for extended questioning, not to exceed 60 minutes, equally divided between the majority and minority, and, without objection, so ordered. Today we're going to examine the issue of racial profiling. I think we all understand what this means. Racial profiling occurs when a law enforcement officer targets someone for a traffic stop or a search or some other law enforcement action based solely on their race, their ethnicity or their gender. This is something that should never happen. It's offensive to the basic values that we all hold dear. Police officers do have a tough job. We have to give them the freedom they need to do their jobs. If they have probable cause to believe someone is committing a crime, they have to take action, but no one should ever be targeted because of their race. People should be able to drive down a highway or walk down a city street with the confidence that their civil rights will not be violated. This is a tough issue. It's hard to get a handle on how often this happens and why it happens. I should say at the outset that I have a lot of confidence in our law enforcement community. In my years as a Congressman and a State legislator, I have met a lot of very good law enforcement officers from all over the country. They're dedicated. They work very hard to protect our safety. I think most police officers around the country would find the notion of targeting people because of their race just as repugnant as Mr. Cummings and I do. On the other hand, I have no doubt that it happens. I have no doubt that there are bad police officers out there who've pulled people over just because of their race. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that out of the thousands of police forces around the country, there may have been a few that tolerated or even winked at that kind of behavior. I think it's very difficult to quantify how often racial profiling happens. It's hard to get inside a police officer's head and figure out why he makes a certain decision. Maybe the best thing we can do is focus on what can be done to prevent it from happening and punish people who do it. That's why Mr. Cummings and I wanted to focus this hearing on the use of audio-visual technology. It's becoming more and more common to see video cameras in police cars. The reason is pretty obvious: When a police officer goes to the scene of a crime, videotaping what happens creates evidence. If a police officer is attacked or shot, a video camera might record the identity of the attacker. By the same token, if a police officer violates the rights of any citizen, it's captured on videotape, and that officer can then be punished. The use of audio-visual technology should be a strong deterrent to racial profiling. If a police officer's actions are being recorded, he or she will be much less likely to stop someone unless there's an objective reason for doing it. If a police officer does target motorists for no other reason than their race, there will be videotaped evidence to discipline him. On the other hand, if a police officer is falsely accused of violating someone's rights, there will be evidence to exonerate him. Today we're going to hear from the Justice Department on this issue. The Assistant Attorney General for Policy Development Viet Dinh will testify. He will tell us what the Justice Department has done to work with law enforcement agencies around the country to promote the use of audio-visual technology and prevent racial profiling. We are going to hear from two State senators from Texas, Senator Royce West and Senator Robert Duncan. They spearheaded a bipartisan effort to pass legislation in the Texas Legislature. It promotes the use of video cameras for just this purpose. Their bill was signed into law earlier this year. It requires that Texas police departments either collect racial data on police stops or employ video cameras to record stops. We're going to hear from the lawyer for several Hispanic individuals from Ohio. They were pulled over by a State police officer. Because they were all Hispanic, everyone in the car was asked to prove that they were U.S. citizens. They sued the State police. The entire incident was videotaped from the police car. The videotape substantiated the charges against the police officer, and action was taken. We'll also hear testimony about a New Jersey State trooper who was accused of violating a motorist's rights. The stop was videotaped. The officer was exonerated by the videotape. The motorist pled guilty to lying in his complaint because of the videotape, and the head of the New Jersey State Police, Colonel Charles Dunbar, is going to tell us what happened and how the use of video cameras has affected his force. We can see that video works in both ways. If a police officer does something wrong, he should be held accountable. If a police officer is falsely accused, he should be exonerated. This is the way it ought to be. And that's why there's so much support for use of video cameras from police groups and civil rights groups alike. That's not to say that audio-visual technology is the only solution to the problem. We don't want to downplay the potential contributions of data collection and other tools. Data collection can and should continue, but it's always good to be looking ahead to new and better ways to attack these problems. Our witnesses today will discuss a number of these approaches. We'll hear from the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives as well as the ACLU. We're also going to hear from the former Commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service, Raymond Kelly. Mr. Kelly will testify about how the Customs Service has dealt with the issue of racial profiling. We'll also hear from a Maryland attorney who believes that he was a victim of racial profiling. Finally, we'll hear from an executive of a California company that produces equipment for law enforcement agencies. We have a lot of witnesses today. It is going to be a well- rounded debate. I'll end my opening statement here so we can get on with it. Let me just close by saying that we all find racial profiling and discrimination repugnant. We want people to have confidence in the fact that their police officers are there to protect them. We want people to trust law enforcement officers and work with them. That should be true if you're African American, Hispanic, Asian or White. That's why it's so important that we look for constructive solutions to deal with the problems like the one we're dealing with today. [The prepared statement of Hon. Dan Burton follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.005 Mr. Burton. Mr. Waxman, would you like me to yield to Mr. Cummings for his opening statement, or would you like to make it? Mr. Waxman. I thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Cummings, for allowing me to make my opening statement. I have to return to a markup in the Commerce Committee on one of the key energy bills before us this year, but I want to start today by thanking Chairman Burton for his willingness to work with Congressman Cummings and other Democratic Members to put together this very important hearing, and I am pleased there is bipartisan consensus that the issue of racial profiling deserves serious attention. And I'm glad our staffs were able to work together to organize this hearing, and I want to particularly thank Congressman Cummings for his leadership and commitment to this issue. Earlier this week the Police Executive Research Forum, a national membership organization of progressive police executives, released a study funded by the Department of Justice on racial profiling. The report included a survey of perceptions of racial profiling of over 1,000 law enforcement officials who lead the big-city police departments, sheriffs departments and other police agencies. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed said that racial profiling is not a problem in their communities, and fewer than 20 percent have adopted policies to outlaw racial profiling. While law enforcement officials may not see that racial profiling is a problem, the people they stop on the highways do not agree. A recent Washington Post survey found that more than half of African American men and one-fifth of Asian and Hispanic men say they have been the targets of racially motivated police stops. Statistics validate this perception. In Maryland, for example, minority drivers are stopped and searched at rates higher than can be explained by their numbers on the roads. Today we are going to hear the testimony of people who know firsthand that racial profiling is indeed a problem. Robert Wilkins, an African American attorney from Washington, DC, will testify about his personal experience of being stopped by Maryland State Police officers while he was returning from a funeral with his family. Pursuant to racial profiling policy, Mr. Wilkins was stopped and detained on the side of the road for no apparent reason for over an hour while the officer tried to obtain his consent to search his car. Mr. Wilkins subsequently sued the Maryland State Police, and the case was settled. Pursuant to the settlement, the Maryland Police agreed to collect data on traffic stops. On the same panel attorney Mark Finnegan will testify about his client, a Latino motorist who has also experienced racial profiling and was able to prove it using audio-visual technology. We'll also hear testimony about possible solutions to this problem. We have two legislators from Texas, who will tell us about a Texas law requiring law enforcement agencies to collect racial data unless they have applied for or receive State funding to purchase audio-visual technology. In addition, we'll hear about local law enforcement agencies that use audio-visual technology in exonerating police officers of charges of racial profiling. Other witnesses will testify about the need to expand efforts to combat racial profiling beyond audio-visual technology, including the important role of data collection and technological advances to improve data collection. Former U.S. Customs Commissioner Ray Kelly will also testify about the progress Customs has made in decreasing the number of searches without experiencing any decline in the number of successful searches. I look forward to all the perspectives we will hear today. Racial profiling is an important and difficult issue we must confront at all levels of government. Given that this is a national problem, it is important that Congress take the lead on the issue. We need to examine all possible solutions, including data collection and the use of new technologies. We need to use all the tools available to deal with this problem. However, it would be very difficult to even begin to solve the problem until we understand that the problem exists. This is particularly true of law enforcement, without whose cooperation all proposed solutions will fail. What the recent survey of law enforcement officials reminds us is that we have yet to clear that first hurdle of getting law enforcement to understand that racial profiling is a problem that needs to be addressed. I hope that today's hearing helps to do that. I thank the witnesses for coming today, and I look forward to their testimony. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Mr. Waxman. Before I go to Mr. Cummings, I'd like to welcome Representative Watson to this hearing, and I ask unanimous consent that she be allowed to participate in today's hearing, and, without objection, so ordered. Welcome. Glad to have you with us. Mr. Waxman. Mr. Chairman, she's a new member on the Democratic side of this committee. Mr. Burton. Oh, is that right? Well, we're tickled to death to have you with us. Ms. Watson. May I very quickly respond? Mr. Burton. Sure. Ms. Watson. Mr. Chairman, Chairman Burton, Congressman Waxman and Congressman Elijah Cummings, thank you so much for the privilege of serving on this committee. I look forward to involving myself in every issue that comes in front of us. Today's issue, the benefits of audio-visual technology and addressing racial profiling, is very significant. Racial profiling has truly been a pervasive issue within my district. One of the cases that we considered at the State level is the young man who took my seat in the California State Senate. So I will be very much involved in this issue, and thank you for the privilege of serving on the committee and with all of my colleagues. Mr. Burton. Well, once again welcome to the committee, and we will now yield to Mr. Cummings, who's been very, very hard- working on this issue. And I can think of no Member in the Congress that's worked harder on making sure that this issue is brought to light and reviewed thoroughly than Mr. Cummings, and I want to thank you very much for your hard work. Mr. Cummings. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for your cooperation, for working with us, and your staff and certainly my staff, and we also, all of us, join in welcoming the Congresslady from the great State of California Ms. Watson. Welcome, and we look forward to working with you. Chairman Burton, earlier this year, as you may recall, I urged this committee to apply its vast and powerful oversight jurisdiction to examine the menacing problem of racial profiling, and I'm very happy that our majority and minority staffs have been able to work together to help make this hearing happen. Mr. Chairman, racial profiling is a very new term that describes a very old problem. We will hear a lot today about the role audio-visual technology can play and is already playing in addressing racial profiling. But the origins of racial profiling in the United States predate patrol-car- mounted cameras with sound recording equipment. In fact, they predate cameras, tape recorders and cars altogether. We are talking about a problem as old as this country itself, and, in fact, even older. Drawing conclusions about character on the basis of immutable superficial characteristics rather than on the basis of behavior helped to justify slavery and segregation and now informs more subtle forms of discrimination that occur today in the post-civil-rights era in this country. Two months ago the Congressional Black Caucus held a hearing on all facets of the racial profiling problem. I'm glad that at least a slice of the issue has been presented here in this forum for broader discussion, because racial profiling is not just a problem for the Black Caucus or the Hispanic Caucus or the Democratic Caucus, it is a problem for all of this Congress and America to deal with. It offends our most basic common sensibilities as Americans because it directly contravenes our most sacred principles, namely, freedom, liberty, fairness and equal justice under the law. Mr. Chairman, we didn't have a Constitution when the evil seeds of this problem were seen centuries ago, but we have one now, and thank God it has evolved to the point where it is beyond question to lawmakers that law enforcement action directed against citizens because of their race is plainly obnoxious to the sacred principles of due process and equal protection embodied to many of our--protection embodied in that enlightened document. Evidently the notion is less clear to many of our Nation's law enforcers. Indeed, a recent survey suggested a clear majority of police executives surveyed believe that racial profiling is not a problem in their jurisdictions, and fewer than 20 percent have adopted policies to outlaw racial profiling. That must change. When President Clinton declared that racial profiling is the opposite of good policing, he was absolutely right. His wisdom was borne out by the clear evidence in my State of Maryland, which sadly has been called the ``driving while Black'' capital of the world. One of our witnesses today, Mr. Robert Wilkins, is a respected attorney in Washington, who brought this situation to light. In 1992, he became an unfortunate victim of racial profiling; unfortunate for the police that is. As a result of the litigation that resulted from the encounter, Wilkins v. Maryland State Police, the State police in my home State have been required to disclose detailed information about the Maryland motorists they stop and search. The results are shocking to the conscience and chilling. During 1995 through 1997, minorities accounted for 22 percent of both the motorists and the speeders along I-95. We were 34.5 percent of those stopped. We were 77 percent of those who were both stopped and searched along Interstate 95. Yet we also were 76 percent of the travelers who were stopped and searched and were found to be innocent of carrying any contraband. The Wilkins evidence demonstrated that targeting Black people is ineffective as a police practice. It is, as President Clinton said, the opposite of good policing. Today, the evidence derived from the Wilkins and companion cases is helping to bring about change in my home State, even though the problem persists. On May 15th of this year, Maryland joined 12 or more other States that have enacted legislation to address racial profiling. Like President Clinton's Executive order, which applies to Federal agencies, the Maryland legislation mandates the collection of data on State and local police stops. Other States are taking similar contrasting approaches, including Texas, as we'll hear today. Whether audio-visual technology is sufficient on its own to address this problem is a matter of debate, and we'll hear arguments on that subject this afternoon. What should be clear from the outset of the discussion, however, is that we as Americans cannot and will not tolerate the practice of stopping and searching people for no reason other than their race, whether it's on the side of a highway, in an airport, in a public park or anywhere else. This is national problem, and it is therefore incumbent upon this Congress to demonstrate leadership on this issue. This hearing is an important step, and I hope we have an opportunity to investigate thoroughly all potential solutions before we move forward with Federal legislation. But surely, Mr. Chairman, Congress must act. The data tells us so. I look forward to hearing our witnesses today. I thank them for participating, and hopefully we will find some solutions to this menacing problem. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Mr. Cummings, and once again thank you for all your help and effort on this issue. Ms. Watson, I believe came next, and since she's a new Member, do you have an opening statement you'd like to make? Ms. Watson. I just made it. Mr. Burton. You've already made your statement. We'll go to Mr. Clay. Mr. Clay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Very briefly I would like to say that I am very interested in hearing from the witnesses today. Representing Missouri, I helped draft and pass a law last year that instituted data collection. We received our first report last month, and it's just what I suspected: more higher incidence of African Americans and other minorities being stopped, vehicles being searched. So my interest today is really to hear from our first witness, the Justice Department, too, so that he can share with us on how we attack the issue of racial profiling, how we address it, how we eradicate it from police departments throughout this Nation. I have a 7-month-old son, and I don't want him to have to go through what I have been subjected to, what other African Americans have been subjected to, which is ``driving while Black,'' and I fear for him and other young African Americans and people of color that are growing up now who may have to be subjected to this profiling. So I am interested in hearing from the U.S. Justice Department to hear what kinds of approaches they want to take. President Bush as well as Attorney General Ashcroft have indicated to this country that they want to eradicate racial profiling. So I am interested in hearing what approaches the U.S. Department of Justice wants to take to help eradicate this problem. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Mr. Clay. [The prepared statement of Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.006 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.007 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.008 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.009 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.010 Mr. Burton. Mr. Owens. Mr. Owens. I have no opening statement, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Burton. You have no opening statement, you say, sir? OK. Ms. Norton. Ms. Norton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. May I commend your initiative on holding this hearing. It's not in this committee I expected to have the first hearing, and I was very pleased to find that indeed there is jurisdiction in this committee for a hearing of this kind at a time when this issue has assumed mammoth proportions. Pending before the Transportation Committee as we speak is my own bill, the Racial Profiling Prohibition Act, which I filed as a member of that committee essentially to prohibit police stops based on race alone. We, of course, know if you have a description of somebody who is a Black male of a certain height or of a certain weight, that the description of the person's color could be informative, but if the police are looking for a Black male, that there is something very wrong with that description, because the police then can look for anybody, and the evidence is overwhelming that is exactly what police have been doing. This is often because at the very top, the kind of training and the kind of professionalism it would take to use race correctly, just as you can use the color of somebody's hair correctly, has not been in place when it comes to race. That is not unrelated. So the way race has been treated in our country since the first Black slaves landed on these shores, what this problem indicates is that race and ethnicity as a basis for police stops has become so pervasive and so systematic that it has blown a hole in our civil rights protections. What is clear to us now, at a time when we thought we were at the end of having to pass civil rights legislation and merely had now to enforce it, is that there is a very important piece of civil rights legislation lying on the table. So three Members of Congress have introduced three different approaches to it. My bill is introduced because I do not intend to sit in this Congress as a member of the Transportation Committee next year when we authorize upwards of $250 billion in highway traffic funds and see those funds continue to go to subsidize racial profiling, and that is exactly what will happen if, in fact, we do not take the steps to make sure that the unconstitutional use of Federal funds does not occur. It is unconstitutional for Federal funds to be used in a discriminatory way or to enforce discrimination. And so my bill would require that States have standards that bar the use of race and ethnicity as the reason for stopping somebody, and that the data and ethnicity to show that the law is being enforced be collected. The reason that I have used this approach, Mr. Chairman, is that for a very real reason, it is the most natural way to get at this practice. What we have now, of course, are people have to sue; they have to look and see if their State legislation is good enough. I don't think anything but a proactive approach will truly work in this climate. I don't want to wait until Mr. Wilkins gets stopped again and say, go sue again. I want the State to take action now so that my son and every other Black man or Hispanic man who are identifiable by their color do not have to wonder if they're going to be stopped on the street, because the State has already moved to make sure that does not happen. And so what I looked at was how my committee, the Transportation Committee, had approached problems that it felt strongly about, and what I found was that in disbursing transportation funds, that the committee often required that in order to receive those funds, States had to take very specific action. The reason you have a national minimum driving age is not because all the States wanted to do it, and the District of Columbia had one age and one in Maryland and another in Virginia. A lot of people liked it that way, and we said, no, you have to have the same age in order to get this money. And highway money is the most coveted money in the Congress, and they came into line because we said it was important enough. We said it was important enough to get convicted drug offenders off all of the roads, and so their licenses should not come back except after a period of time. And so we said, you're not going to get your highway money unless you pass a bill to that effect. As I speak, we have said, unless you pass a law that, in fact, requires that those who are stopped meet the .08 blood alcohol content, you won't get your highway money. So essentially I've said to the Congress this is a test. Do you feel strongly about the outrage of people being stopped on the street because they are Black and Hispanic; do you feel strongly enough so that this Congress will take action to make sure that we do not subsidize racial profiling, because that is exactly what we are going to do. I believe that the Congress is going to do that. I believe that my committee, the Transportation Committee, is going to pass this legislation. I believe it because it is a very bipartisan committee, because the committee has often sustained goals and timetables and other civil rights protections, and I believe that the outcry from literally every State in the Union is going to get this provision included in the transportation bill, the new TEA-21, when it comes out next year. I can't thank the chairman enough, if I may say in closing, for being the first committee to spotlight this problem and take action to move us forward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Ms. Norton. Once again I want to tell the gentlelady from Washington that Mr. Cummings has led the fight on this issue, and he's to be commended for being so persistent, and that's one of the reasons why we're having this hearing today, because of his hard work. Mr. Tierney. Mr. Tierney. I have no comment. Thank you. Mr. Burton. Mr. Shays. Mr. Shays. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Chairman Burton. Thank you so very much for convening this hearing on the benefit of audio-visual technology in addressing racial profiling. This bipartisan oversight initiative addresses a critical issue in need of greater exposure, public debate and reform. Decades ago, with the passage of the sweeping civil rights legislation, this Nation attempted to amplify and extend our constitutional commitment to equal protection and equal treatment under the law. One remaining bastion of racial bias cynically turns the law and law enforcement against the very citizens it is the solemn duty of both to protect. The practice of using race as a prima facie criterion for questioning or arrest violates that commitment and flies in the face of progress we have made toward racial equality. With our colleague Mr. Conyers of Michigan, I am a grateful cosponsor of the End Racial Profiling Act, H.R. 2074, to require Federal law enforcement agencies to adopt policies and procedures to eliminate racial profiling. The bill also holds States and localities to the same high standard by making sure Federal funds are not used to continue the practice. Our bill will help protect citizens from the indignity and stigma of profiling. It will also help law enforcement officers perform their sworn duties impartially by encouraging use of the technology we will be discussing today. Video and audio systems can serve as an impartial third party, protecting citizens against arbitrary police actions while reducing the risk of false or spurious racial profiling charges against law enforcement personnel. These technologies when used effectively should increase public confidence that arrests are being made based on probable cause, not racial stereotypes. Again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for focusing the committee's attention on this issue. I truly look forward to the testimony of today's witnesses, and I look forward to exploring other dimensions of the problem and proposed solutions at future hearings. And I thank my colleagues who are participating in this important hearing. Mr. Burton. Thank you very much, Mr. Shays. [The prepared statement of Hon. Christopher Shays follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.011 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.012 Mr. Burton. We'll now welcome our first panel to the witness table, Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh, and we'd like you to please rise and raise your right hand. [Witness sworn.] Mr. Burton. Do you have an opening statement, sir? Mr. Dinh. I do, sir, and it's been submitted for the record. I'd like to now give an oral statement, if I may. Mr. Burton. It's fine. Without objection. STATEMENT OF VIET DINH, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Mr. Dinh. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it's an honor be here, my first hearing since being sworn into office as Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy. Thank you for this opportunity to inform you of the Department's effort on racial profiling and specifically how technology may assist in those efforts. Improving the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve is a priority for the Department of Justice and for this administration. The Department recognizes that effective law enforcement requires trust between citizens and police officers, and police-community relationships may be threatened when a citizen is treated unfairly by the police. Racial profiling is a particularly egregious example. No American should fear law enforcement action just because of his or her race. We are committed to ensuring that all individuals are treated equally under the law. The President and Attorney General have made clear that the Department will take a leadership role in addressing the issue of racial profiling. In February, the President directed the Attorney General to review the use of race by Federal law enforcement authorities, requested that the Attorney General work with Congress to develop data collection methods, and asked that the Attorney General report to him findings and recommendations for improved administration of the Nation's laws. To implement these directives, the Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson is conducting a comprehensive review of the policies and practice of Federal law enforcement agencies to determine the nature and extent of any racial profiling. That review encompasses the four following elements: a summary of the available data and studies relevant to the racial profiling issue; a description of the types of contacts that occur between Federal law enforcement and a general estimate of the number of such contacts; a review of current policies of Federal law enforcement agencies concerning racial profiling; and fourth, a review of all judicial proceedings and professional responsibility inquiries involving allegations of racial profiling by Federal law enforcement officials. The Deputy Attorney General anticipates completing this review by the fall. In addition to our work under the directive, the Department has a number of ongoing initiatives relating to racial profiling. For example, the Community-Oriented Policing Services Office, the COPS office, has provided resources for data collection and research on racially biased policing and implemented a national training initiative through its regional community policing institutes. These programs proactively work with State and local law enforcement agencies to adopt best practices, to weed out the bad seeds, and to improve the trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities that they serve. Additionally, COPS introduced a targeted grant program entitled Racial Profiling Prevention Strategies to develop best practice and technical assistance guides to prevent racial profiling. The Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS], collects and analyzes data on traffic stops and data collection procedures. The Bureau of Justice Assistance recently published a Resource Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collections Systems. And the National Institute of Justice has supported studies on racial profiling issues, such as the North Carolina Highway Traffic Study, which addressed whether North Carolina Highway Patrol officers stopped minorities at a higher rate than nonminorities and what factors motivate highway stops. Today you've asked me specifically to address the use of audio-visual technology as a law enforcement tool and its potential as a means for eliminating racial profiling. Section 2 of my written statement describes the nature of the technologies available and the respective advantages and certain limitations. I would like to spend the next few minutes describing the Department's efforts to support deploying technologies to enhance police capabilities and improve efficiencies and prevent racial profiling. The Department, principally through the Office of Justice Programs and the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services, provides significant funding to State and local law enforcement agencies to support the deployment of technologies which can be used to purchase a wide range of equipment, including in-car and other video and a variety of data collection systems. The COPS office also administers an In-Car Video Camera Grant Program to provide law enforcement officials with this important tool during traffic stops. To leverage these investments, OJP and COPS have produced a number of guides, references and other reports for use by the agencies in deciding what equipment to acquire and how best to collect data on traffic stops. Among these are a tutorial published by the Bureau of Justice Assistance that includes description of data collection programs in four United States and one foreign location, and provides recommendations for traffic stop data collection systems; an executive brief on how video cameras are used in law enforcement published by the International Association of Chiefs of Police under a National Institute of Justice cooperative agreement, and finally, but not exhaustively, a National Institute of Justice guide on how to select and apply law enforcement video surveillance equipment, which offers guidance on how to position cameras, lighting, and focusing, and other requirements. The NIJ is also engaged in research on a variety of technologies to enhance capabilities and improve efficiency. Some of these technologies may also help to make police stops less personally intrusive and allow for a more objective determination of a need for a stop. Among these research subjects are police palm top devices that combine a number of technologies to allow the rapid completion and filing of reports from the field; the Voice Response Translator, a small device that allows officers to communicate one-way in the same language as the subject being questioned; and conceal weapon detection systems that may be used in certain circumstances in lieu of more intrusive body searches. Adaptive surveillance systems which can dynamically adjust the video parameters in a region of an image containing a face or other object of interest to improve the quality of image is also another technology that we are exploring. Not all of these technologies, of course, are ready for deployment, and some will not be for several years, and any technology, old or new, may be employed in ways that raise significant concerns regarding privacy. Law enforcement agencies using any of these technologies must be cognizant of the privacy issues, seek guidance from legal counsel, develop appropriate policies and provide training before them putting them into operation. We look forward to working with the law enforcement agencies and, more important, the Congress to answer these important questions relating to privacy, but to the topic today, relating to proactive steps we can take as a Department and as an administration to eliminate the practice of racial profiling across the land. Thank you very much. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Mr. Dinh. [The prepared statement of Mr. Dinh follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.013 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.014 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.015 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.016 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.017 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.018 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.019 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.020 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.021 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.022 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.023 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.024 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.025 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.026 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.027 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.028 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.029 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.030 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.031 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.032 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.033 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.034 Mr. Burton. Most of the questions that I had to ask you covered very thoroughly. Let me ask you this question. The COPS program, do you know how much money is allocated for that program? Mr. Dinh. There are a number of programs under the COPS initiative, and I have asked our people to assemble all those in a concrete number. Mr. Burton. Can you submit those for the record for us? Mr. Dinh. I will. Mr. Burton. What I'd like to find out right now, maybe your staff that's with us can help us with this, how much money has been used for the visual technology, and is that being apportioned out on a State-by-State basis, or is it being given to the States based upon their requests? Mr. Dinh. We have awarded 41 State police agencies $12 million to purchase 2,900 video cameras in the past--in last year actually. This year we are continuing the program with $3 million to 6 additional States for 750 additional cameras. I do not know the specifics as to whether or not we make these grants selectively or whether they're based upon an RFP that comes in and then we evaluate those. Mr. Burton. I think those of us on the committee would like to know if the Justice Department is pushing the States to accept audio-visual technology for police surveillance in these police cars, or if they're waiting for there to be a request from the States. If the Justice Department--I think it would be appropriate--and this is just a suggestion--that the Justice Department push the States to accept this, because I think racial profiling is a concern all across the country, and there may be some States that are not as active as far as requests are concerned, that if pushed a little bit, may accept them, and it might speed up the process. Mr. Dinh. We take your suggestions very seriously, Mr. Chairman, and I take all suggestions from Congress very seriously. We do have a program across the entire Department in making targeted grants more effective in achieving the objectives that Congress intended them to be, and this would fit right into that initiative, and I will personally commit to making that happen. Mr. Burton. Very good. I know the new administration has made this one of their issues and priorities, and what we'd like to do is maybe have you or somebody from the Justice Department that's conversant with this issue or working on it come back at some future date. So would you be willing to come back and give us an update on this in the not too distant future to see how it's progressing? In particular I'd like to know which States are actively pursuing the new technologies to make sure there's not racial profiling and which States aren't. I think if we make that public, it will kind of put a little pressure on the States that are not accepting the new technology to make sure there's not racial profiling to get on with the program. Mr. Dinh. I will be honored to come back, and especially when the Deputy Attorney General has completed his review of the Federal law enforcement policies and practices, and as we go into the second phase of our proactive efforts, to effectuate the President and Attorney General's directive on this in the fall. I would appreciate an opportunity to address those issues in addition to the questions you have today. Mr. Burton. Mr. Shays, do you have some questions? Mr. Shays. Yes. Mr. Burton. Excuse me. Just for the benefit of our colleagues, we are under the 30-minute rule, and that's why I went to Mr. Shays, and then Mr. Cummings will have 30 minutes as well. Mr. Shays. For the benefit of my colleagues, my questions will probably be 5 to 10 minutes, and we will probably be able to give you a half hour and some of our time. We're happy to yield our time as well. Mr. Burton. That's fine. Mr. Shays. Mr. Dinh, I just want to welcome you. I can get almost emotional seeing you at this desk and think that this is a country that is very inclusive when it wants to be and very open, and this American society is a very unique society. I would suspect you probably weren't born in this country. Mr. Dinh. I was not, sir. I came here in 1978 as a refugee from Vietnam. Mr. Shays. Well, it makes me very proud to have you here. Mr. Dinh. Thank you, sir. Mr. Shays. And welcome. I was speaking with Congressman Owens, and he was sharing with me something that makes me wonder as well. The Federal Government basically has a role to play in this whole issue of racial profiling, but law enforcement tends to be a local and a State responsibility. I mean, that's where it tends, I would think, we would see most of the abuses. So let me ask you first off, what powers do you think the Federal Government has to deal with racial profiling? Mr. Dinh. Of course, as Congresswoman Norton noted, the Constitution prohibits the use of race as the basis for law enforcement, and that Constitution, of course, under Article VI of that great document, applies across the land to State and Federal actors alike, but, as you noted, the Federal Government is limited in its law enforcement capacity. Most of the policing power is exercised by State and local authorities. That's why the Department of Justice in its proactive efforts are reaching out to help State and local police agencies in order to develop best practices, to weed out the bad seeds, and to improve the trust between their law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. With respect to your specific question for congressional authority---- Mr. Dinh. I would like to defer that to my colleagues in the Office of Legal Counsel and my new colleague the Solicitor General Ted Olson. I am no longer a constitutional law professor. I'm now a recovering academic in the guise of a government official. So I have to respect their province of authority. Mr. Shays. Let me ask you this way: Do you think there are powers inherent in the Federal Government that can help us deal with this issue? Mr. Dinh. Certainly there is the Federal spending clause that is applicable, Section 5 of the 14th amendment are possible bases, but, again, the devil's in the details with respect to the employment of any one of these powers with respect to State intrusions upon State sovereignty, and I think that any particular legislation or action by the Federal Government would have to be scrutinized under the constitutional standards as set forth by the Supreme Court. Mr. Shays. I know you're involved in the policy side, and I suspect that you're not fully staffed and the Department isn't yet fully staffed, but can you tell me to what extent--and this is really a question that in the dialog I was having with Congresswoman Norton. I want to know to what extent the administration is willing to pursue this issue of racial profiling. Let me put it in the context of this: There are some of us, a lot on the Democratic side of the aisle and some of us on the Republican side of the aisle, that believe that hate crimes is an issue that we need to deal with, hate crimes whether it be race or sexual orientation and so on, and the administration clearly doesn't want to move in that direction. I'm eager to know to what extent we are going to pursue this issue of racial profiling. Mr. Dinh. This is a matter of high priority both for the President and for the Attorney General. The review being undertaken by the Deputy Attorney General is but one step in this process, as you know. As you may know, the Attorney General in February issued I guess I would call it an ultimatum to ask Congress to authorize a Federal study, comprehensive study, of these practices within 6 months, and if not, he would undertake personally within the Department the study within our own Department and fund it through sources that we can identify. And so this is a matter of high priority for all of us in the administration, and we will pursue working with Congress and the relevant agencies. Mr. Shays. Two last questions, and let me ask them both now, and maybe it will lead to another question. But have you had the ability yet to determine where in what level of government racial profiling tends to be the most egregious; and No. 2, are there particular areas of the country where we see it more prevalent? And I don't just mean in the South. I mean, we know that the civil rights movement kind of marched to Washington and in some cases stopped, and we can see segregation in a different way in the North, where I live; wealthy people tending to live in wealthy areas with wealthy White citizens, urban areas tending to have more of the poor and the minorities. It's more of a de facto segregation in some ways. But my question is have you had an opportunity to look at what level of government and where racial profiling tends to be the most egregious? Mr. Dinh. No, sir. We have not had that opportunity. Our review at this point is focused at the Federal law enforcement agency level. We anticipate to be able to study, with congressional authorization and funding if possible, otherwise an independently authorized review by the Justice Department of the State and local data that is available. Currently 12 States, I believe, require the collection of racial profiling data, and 37 States voluntarily do so, and we look forward to the opportunity to take a more comprehensive view of that data should it be funded by Congress. Mr. Shays. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have completed my questions. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Mr. Shays. Mr. Cummings we will recognize you for 30 minutes and if your side needs more, we will see if we can't get that for you. Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Dinh, I also welcome you to the hearing and I congratulate you on your appointment and thank you for your testimony. I just was wondering as you were answering Mr. Shays' questions, you know, a lot of the racial profiling problem comes from, I think, from a certain level of insensitivity and police officers who already have come to certain conclusions before they even stop a person. They--I see it in my own neighborhood. I have been a victim of it many times. And I was wondering, before we even get to the audio-visual piece, are you all looking at any--that is, the Justice Department-- looking at any programs, and is it something that you believe is necessary to sensitize police officers to understanding that every African American male that they see driving a modern car, or any kind of car, down the road is not a criminal? I mean are you all looking at it from that angle because the problem begins actually a little bit before the stop actually takes place. Mr. Dinh. Yes, sir, the COPS program, the Community Oriented Policing Services program, as part of its proactive training mechanism for State and local police officers and executives, has as a primary component what they call the ethics and integrity program; in your words, sensitizing the chiefs and their rank and file to these very, very significant issues. That is one component of a much broader initiative in reaching out and developing a best practices and also implementing those best practices, encouraging the agencies to implement those practices throughout their rank and file, and so it is a problem that admits of both remedial but, as you noted, preventative measures; and those preventative measures include changing the hearts and minds and improving the trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Mr. Cummings. Now, going to the COPS program and the audio- visual opportunities that are presented, do you know why that came about, why they first started with audio-visual, you know making these cameras available; that is, grants for the cameras? Mr. Dinh. I am not familiar with the genesis of the grant program but I suspect with most OJP--Office Justice Program-- grant programs, that it was initiated by Congress. I do have, by the virtue of technology, two-way messaging, in answer to the earlier question with respect to the breakdowns of the States in requesting these programmatic funds. And I have been advised that all States except three have now requested money for audio-visual equipment for State police. One State not requesting is Hawaii, for the obvious reason it does not have a State Highway Patrol, and the other two States not requesting, for reasons unknown, are Ohio and Delaware. Mr. Cummings. OK. I look at the Baltimore City Police Department, when they make requests of the COPS program, they have certain priorities. And one of their priorities was just basic computers so that the police knew what each other were doing in the various parts of the city. And I was just wondering if you have, say, the COPS piece, the audio-visual piece; and then a city looks at that and says OK, yeah, we really do need the audio-visual but we need some basic things before we get there, like police cars and things of that nature. I was just wondering whether one grant works against the other. Are you following what I am saying? Mr. Dinh. Yes, I do, sir. The grant program that was described earlier, the $12 million last year and $3 million this year, is specifically for in-car video devices. The COPS program--the COPS office and other offices within OJP have a significant number of other grant programs on improvement of technologies generally, and some of that money can be used for in-car video or they can be used for other uses. The in-car program, the $12 million program, is specifically for this, but all of our programs are designed so that they do not work against each. This one just happens to be targeted for this particular priority, but there are many other technology- related grants that exceed, obviously, the hundreds of millions of dollars in improvement in technology for the State and local law enforcement agencies. Mr. Cummings. Is there any research that you all have done or that you are doing with regard to States that use the audio- visual equipment and how that has affected this whole concept of racial profiling? I guess it is a little early for that. Mr. Dinh. We have not performed any research or funded any specific research within the Department of Justice, and I have undertaken a review of social science literature with respect to the use of audio-visual and I have not seen any significant statistical research. There has been some anecdotal research out there, I think of two specific studies, but not any comprehensive ones. That goes to one of the issues that was addressed in my written remarks, is the obvious limitation, a common-sense one with respect to the use of audio-visual equipment is that there has to be somebody reviewing the audio tapes and data, and that is a significant undertaking of reviewing those hours of tapes and data. Mr. Cummings. So how do you see that playing out? I know if there was an issue, if someone, say, filed a complaint against the police to their Internal Affairs Division and said, look, you know, I was a victim, that is one issue. But it is a whole other issue when you are trying to get a full view of the many stops--say, for example, with the Maryland State Police--and I guess that is a big manpower issue, and is there money available for that? Mr. Dinh. As you noted and as the chairman noted, there are a number of technologies that can be deployed in order to prevent or remedy racial profiling. Some of the anecdotal studies that I have reviewed with respect to the use of audio- visual equipment specifically suggests a deterrent effect in the conduct of police officers knowing that they are being recorded, and specifically of the motorist or the suspect when they are advised specifically that they are being recorded, for the obvious reason that there is an audio-visual recording of whatever actions or words that are spoken. And so there is a deterrent effect, a general improvement effect. I stress that it is only anecdotal, because it is not a statistical significant sample for these studies. Mr. Cummings. Now, what is the OJ's interpretation of the legality of racial profiling under the Federal statutes? Mr. Dinh. As you may know, the Supreme Court in a case called Whren, W-h-r-e-n, a fourth amendment case, noted in passing that it is common--that it is obvious that the 14th amendment guaranteed equal protection, prohibits the law enforcement on the basis of race, and I think that everybody in this room recognizes that constitutional prohibition. Mr. Cummings. Now, if you were to find that a Federal officer was one who was proven to be a racial profiler, what do you all have available in Justice to address that? Mr. Dinh. Each one of the law enforcement agencies have procedures to ensure professional integrity within their rank and file, and those procedures are very, very rigorous in order to weed out the bad seeds, if you will, as I noted before. In addition to that, the civil rights division of the Department of Justice has authority under the statutes to investigate pattern and practice violations by specific law enforcement agencies or officers, and that authority is obviously being deployed throughout the country when there is a need that warrants it. Mr. Cummings. Do you know whether there are any cases presently before Justice, following up on what you just said? Mr. Dinh. There is a working group within the Department of Justice, again just addressed by Congressman Shays earlier, whether or not this is a high priority. There is established within the Department of Justice a working group that oversees and monitors all litigation affecting Federal agencies that involve racial profiling. Any such litigation would be reported to the working group. My office is working intimately with that working group in order to ensure that whatever litigation position's taken in those litigation is consistent with our priority of eliminating, preventing, and remedying racial profiling. I believe there is a case pending with respect to the Customs Service in Chicago. I do not know the details of that case nor would my position allow me to comment on pending litigation. Mr. Cummings. I understand. I just wanted to know whether we would--whether there was anything--anybody who had been brought up to--under any kind of charges. I didn't need to know the details. Mr. Dinh. Actually, if I may amplify, one of the four components of the study undertaken by the Deputy Attorney General across the entire law enforcement community is a review of all professional responsibility complaints and/or litigation involving their personnel on the issue of racial profiling, and that review is anticipated to be completed within the fall. So I can have a much more full answer and specific answer to you in my next report, sir. Mr. Cummings. I think you said that Larry Thompson was--is doing some investigating now to determine what? Mr. Dinh. That is the study that the Attorney General ordered Deputy Attorney General Thompson to undertake. It is a study that reviews all Federal law enforcement agencies with respect to their practices and policies on racial profiling. The four components of that study, if I may briefly go into that, is, one, a summary of the available data and studies relevant to the racial profiling issues; two, a description of the types of contacts, the approximate number of contacts that the law enforcement agencies have with the public; and, three, a review of current policies of Federal law enforcement agencies concerning racial profiling; and, four, a review of all judicial proceedings and professional responsibility complaints, as I just explained a minute ago. That study is continuing. We anticipate completion of that study sometime in the fall. Mr. Cummings. OK. Now, I'm just trying to figure out, I mean under the things that you just named, is there any research being done as to any other tools that you all may need to properly address any violations? Mr. Dinh. Yes, sir. There is continuing review in appendices A and B of my written testimony. There are a compendium of not only the programs that we have but also the assessments procedures for the tools that we need. I anticipate that as we review these matters, we will be making requests to you in your support and funding, authorization and funding of these tools so that we can better combat this problem that we all recognize is a matter of high priority. Mr. Cummings. Now, last but not least, when the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Bush, he said something that was just--I guess it was just one of the more silencing moments of our discussion. This was in, I think, around January, and he said that he--it really bothered him that there are Americans who believe that there are two standards of justice, or at least two standards of justice: one for those who have; one for those who have not; one for those who may be Black; one for those who may be White. And he said that he would do everything in his power to address that, so that every American would know that there's one system of justice. And I was just wondering what, if any, other than maybe the things you've said, directives have you all gotten with regard to this issue to carry out what the President said to the Congressional Black Caucus? Mr. Dinh. Thank you very much for that question, Congressman, and it is a promise that I personally believe in also. I think that the promise and opportunities of America that my family have been so fortunate to realize should be available to all Americans regardless of immutable characteristics as you noted before. Specific to your question, on February 27 of this year, the President issued a directive to the Attorney General specifically on the issue of racial profiling, asking him to review the use of Federal law enforcement authorities--by Federal law enforcement authorities--of race as a factor in conducting stops, searches, and other investigative procedures, and also to direct him to report back with findings and recommendations for the improvement of just and equal administration of our Nation's law. Now, as you may recall, the Attorney General also met with the Congressional Black Caucus, at which time he announced his high priority in this issue and issued the call to Congress to authorize him funding to effect these directives within 6 months or he would undertake the study himself, under existing Department of Justice authorization and try to find funding elsewhere. I hope not from my line budget, from my office, but certainly staff from my office. It is a matter of high priority, and we are all working very hard toward that goal. Mr. Cummings. I think the Attorney General, when he met with the Caucus said something about 6 months. Mr. Dinh. Yes. Mr. Cummings. For some reason that rings in my head. And that was in February? Mr. Dinh. That was in February, sir. And that is why the Deputy Attorney General's target date for completion of his study is sometime in the fall. That 6 months would probably run approximately September 28. Mr. Cummings. OK. I yield to Mr. Clay. Mr. Clay. Thank you very much, Mr. Cummings. Mr. Dinh, I am impressed with your testimony today, and hopefully the DOJ can make progress on this issue. You mentioned in your testimony that you have several initiatives to address the problem on States that have already conducted studies. Here's what I'm interested in: in seeing the DOJ come up with a concerted effort, a coordinated strategy to address those areas that we know are problems. And in the Missouri study, for example, we found that there were pockets and areas where police departments had very high incidents of stops and searches. You talked about a weed-out-the-bad-seeds initiative. Have you all discussed or initiated any type of program directed toward States that have already conducted the data collection and addressed the issue of weed out bad seeds? Just how do you do that? Mr. Dinh. There are two components to your question. I'd like to take each of them in turn. Mr. Clay. Sure. Mr. Dinh. The 6-month call to Congress for action that the Attorney General issued contemplates additional funding for us to study the data that is collected voluntarily by 37 States and mandatorily by legislation by the 12 States that are available. That is obviously a significant undertaking because it is many different jurisdictions and many different points of data, and so we would like to be able to get congressional funding for that by the end of September, if possible. If not, we will try to find mechanisms to do it ourselves. With respect to your question about the proactive steps that we can take, the early warning systems that the COPS program have developed and worked with local and State law enforcement officials to encourage them to implement is one example of that in order to identify problems and problem officers at an early enough stage in order to take preventative measures. This is obviously a very significant undertaking that will require significant contemplation in terms of the data available, but also in working out and coordinating a strategy. We are in the process of implementing or formulating a strategy with respect to that, and I would like to report to you back in the fall on our overall plan. Mr. Clay. Let me suggest that in your deliberations you also consider forming some type of Federal task forces that will send in agents of color to those areas where you have high incidences of traffic stops, of vehicle searches, so that they can report back to DOJ, and you all make the determination whether there are bad seeds and how we eradicate those seeds from our local law enforcement. And so let me throw that out as a suggestion. Also, have you all done any extensive studies of U.S. Customs and the stops that they make at Customs? Is that completed yet or not? Mr. Dinh. That is part of our study that Larry Thompson, our Deputy Attorney General, is conducting. As you know, as Mr. Cummings noted earlier, President Clinton ordered the collection of data by certain law enforcement agencies, specifically the INS and the U.S. Customs Service. We have that data. The Deputy Attorney General is reviewing that and will report on that as part of his overall objective, overall report. With respect to your specific suggestion, of course we take that very seriously and I will take that back. I also note that recently, just last month, the Attorney General announced a memorandum of understanding with the D.C. Police Department where there is a cooperative effort between the D.C. Police Department and the Department of Justice civil rights division in working together cooperatively in order to improve the practices of police. I think that this type of cooperative mechanism is the kind of thing that you are contemplating in your pattern and practice investigations. Mr. Clay. Sure. And with the Attorney General being from my home State, I would hope he would want to eradicate any issues that are outstanding in Missouri. Final question: The video technology, video and audio technology, in patrol cars where it is used now, do we have issues with law enforcement turning the cameras on, or is there enough technology that once the car door opens, the camera is activated? Just tell me, do we have problems with the technology itself? Mr. Dinh. I do not think there are specific questions with respect to selective deployment of the technology. I believe a lot of these systems are either automatically activated keen points or round-the-clock kind of activations so that there is sufficient coverage. I do note that one advance of technology is the movement from analog--the normal VHS tapes that we see--to digital, the CD ROMs that we see. That improvement in the technology will significantly improve the capacity of storage within each car and also within each department so as to ensure continuous coverage of the type that you contemplate. Mr. Clay. Thank you for that. Appreciate it, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Shays [presiding]. I thank the gentleman. There's more time remaining, and, Ms. Norton, you have the floor. Ms. Norton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Dinh, I'd first just like to establish what I will call a basic understanding between the committee and yourself about the legal and constitutional ground rules so we make sure we're talking about the same things. Could Federal funds flow to States which--where there is evidence of pervasive racial profiling? That is to say, stops on the basis of race or ethnicity, while--if that continued, would we not have a prima facie violation of the Constitution and would we have a prima facie violation of any Federal statute? Mr. Dinh. I'm afraid that I am not prepared to answer that question simply because I have not taken an in-depth review of the funding sources and the implications of the Constitutional prohibition as it relates to the funding matter, but I would like to get back to you in consultation with our Office of Legal Counsel on that. Ms. Norton. Well, I must say that if we got hung up at the level of generality that I indicated, I'm afraid we are really in trouble. I thought you indicated that you thought that there was a constitutional prohibition against the use of Federal funds, against Federal subsidy of racial or ethnic discrimination. And now you say you are not sure if it's a prima facie violation even, and you can cite no Federal statute where there might be a prima facie violation and here when I say prima facie, because obviously that means that you've only established that there may be a violation, and that is rebuttable, and you are telling me you can't even say in answer to my question where there's evidence that a State pervasively engages in racial profiling that there is a prima facie violation of the Constitution? Mr. Dinh. Thank you for the opportunity to clarify, Congresswoman Norton. What I stated before in answer to the chairman's question was a citation to the United States v. Whren, which is a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case, fourth amendment case, that noted in passing the constitutional prohibition contained in the 14th amendment that prohibited law enforcement on the basis of race. I did not extend my remarks to the question you raised; that is, the linkage to funding, the flow of funds to specific localities. That is an additional question that I would have to consult with our Office of Legal Counsel---- Ms. Norton. I thought you raised the notion of the spending authority as well in your answer. Mr. Dinh. I think in my answer to Congressman Shays, I noted when he asked for speculation as to what authority that Congress may have in addressing this issue, I noted that this funding clause is a possible source, and also section 5 of the 14th amendment is a possible source for congressional authority for action to redress these problems. Of course, as I said, the devil's in the detail. Both of those answers, one, the recognition of the 14th amendment's prohibition on the use of race as a basis for law enforcement and, two, the source of authority possibly under the spending clause and the section 5 of the 14th amendment, do not go to the specific nub of your question, which is whether the Constitution in and of itself prohibits the flow of Federal funds to localities under certain circumstances. I do note, however, that, as I noted before, that our civil rights division has authority and responsibility that we take very seriously to investigate and prosecute pattern and practice violations, and that is a matter of continuing priority for our Department. Ms. Norton. So we've established that there may be a constitutional basis for enacting legislation to forbid racial profiling under the spending authority or under the 14th amendment. Mr. Dinh. I think that is correct. Of course the findings and actions and the like would have to pass constitutional muster---- Ms. Norton. Of course. Mr. Dinh [continuing]. Under the Supreme Court's division-- for example, City of Boerne v. Flores--for section 5 of the 14th amendment; South Dakota v. Dole for the spending clause. But those are things that my colleagues in the Office of Legal Counsel and Office of Solicitor General are much more well equipped to answer than I. Ms. Norton. I understand, Mr. Dinh. That is why I'm trying to keep my questions very general, because I'm not trying to pin you down on the details. I'm trying to establish, as I said the legal ground rules. After all, I'm writing legislation and you can help me to make sure it's constitutional and that the President would want to sign it and that the Justice Department would want to be helpful in making---- Mr. Dinh. We always can help you in that regard. Ms. Norton. Could I read to you Title 6 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. My question went to the Constitution but it also went to any to any Federal statute. Do we have a colorable violation of a Federal statute, namely Title 6, if there is evidence of pervasive racial profiling by one State which receives Federal funds in its highway program or any Federal funds that are connected to the violation? Mr. Dinh. I will study your question in reference not only to Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act but other provisions of Federal law and will get back to you. Ms. Norton. I'm sorry. Would you repeat that? Mr. Dinh. I will study not only Title 6 but all the other provisions of the Civil Rights Act and other Federal law, as you requested, and seek the counsel of my colleagues and get back to you. Ms. Norton. Like you, Mr. Dinh, I'm a constitutional lawyer, and I tell you that if I were in your position, and the Attorney General asked me that question, I would say the devil is in the details--to quote Mr. Dinh--but, sir, I think that there probably is a prima facie violation and maybe you want me to indeed study the details to make certain. Has there ever been a case brought by the Justice Department under Title 6 on the basis of racial profiling? Mr. Dinh. I'm not aware of any such case, but again that would require a comprehensive review of all components, and I would like to study that. We have a Department of 125,000 so I'd like not to make a categorical answer without---- Ms. Norton. That is very important for us to know. It is very important to know under--you haven't been there very long, so it would almost surely have to be in some prior administration. I ask you to in your written response to this committee, in your responses to the committee, to let us know whether or not in its entire history the Department has ever brought suit under Title 6 or whether any department of the government, such as the Department of Transportation, has ever conducted a Title 6 investigation based on racial profiling. I see that I have a note that my good chairman has allowed me to go overtime, and I appreciate it and I therefore yield back the remainder of no time left. Mr. Shays. Let me just say to you--I thank the gentlelady and appreciate her questions, and we would recognize that you are new into this position and we would like a more accurate answer than one where you are not totally certain. But we would clearly want the answers to her questions and would expect that you would provide that to the committee and make sure that your staff gets it right away, Ms. Norton, as well as other members. Before we have a vote, in fact what I'd like to do is recognize Mr. Gilman for my time and let him have a statement. Mr. Gilman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to make an opening statement before we have to go to the floor. I may have to stay over there. Chairman Shays, I would like to thank you and Chairman Burton for scheduling this extremely important hearing timely to investigate the benefits of any other methods of taking some steps to prevent racial profiling; the benefits, for example, of the audio-visual technology in addressing racial profiling. I believe that advancing this kind of affordable and accessible technology can help curb the highly questionable practice of using mandatory racial data collection and law enforcement. That technology can also act as an objective source in disproving claims against law enforcement officers who have been wrongly accused of using racial profiling. In short, the challenge we face is to make certain the civil liberties of our citizens and, at the same time, providing our law enforcement officers with the tools necessary to maintain law and order. I look forward to the testimony of today's panel and working with my colleagues on this important issue. Sound law enforcement certainly is dependent upon good trust between the citizens and police officers and a sound police/community relationship. Racial profiling as a law enforcement tool undermines that trust, which is why the President has directed the Attorney General to undertake steps to conduct a comprehensive review of the use of racial profiling by Federal law enforcement authorities, and that is why we welcome having a representative from the Department of Justice before us today. And just one quick question. Is there any question about the use of audio-visual material in the courts? Mr. Dinh. No, sir. I can imagine certain challenges based on authentication and the like, but I do not know of any specific evidentiary or general evidentiary prohibition on the use of such materials. Mr. Gilman. Thank you very much and thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Shays. Thank you. We may be able to get on to the next panel after the break. I don't know if--I still have a little more time on my time. Mr. Barr, you are here, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Platts, would you---- Mrs. Morella. Mr. Chairman, I just simply want to ask permission that my opening statement be included in the record and point out that I am a lead co-sponsor of the bill to End Racial Profiling Act and am very interested in this hearing. Thank you. Mr. Shays. Without objection. [The prepared statement of Hon. Constance A. Morella follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.035 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.036 Mr. Shays. Mr. Barr, opening comment or welcome? Mr. Barr. Just a quick question for the witness. Mr. Shays. Yes. Mr. Barr. Thank you. Mr. Assistant Attorney General, thank you for being with us today and congratulations on your recent appointment. Would you agree with the following statement: that if in fact the Department of Justice uncovers evidence of improper racial profiling, it has tools under current law and regulation to address that and take appropriate action? Mr. Dinh. Yes, sir. Most significantly, the pattern and practice authority in our civil rights division. Mr. Barr. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Shays. Thank you. Mr. Platts, would you like to make a comment before--would either of my colleagues like to make---- Mr. Cummings. We have nothing else. Thank you. Mr. Shays. Thank you. Mr. Dinh. Thank you very much. Mr. Shays. Mr. Dinh, thank you so much. It's wonderful to have you here. You may be back again and we will look forward to that. We will be in recess. We do have some votes. I think we may have two votes, so our next panel may have about 15 to 20 minutes if they want to quickly get a bite to eat, downstairs one floor. We stand in recess. [Recess.] Mr. Barr [presiding]. I'd like to call to order the continuation of our hearing in the Government Reform Committee on the benefits of audio-visual technology in addressing racial profiling. We will now move to our second panel, having already heard earlier this morning from the Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. I'd like to welcome the members of our second panel. We have two members, distinguished members of the Senate of the-- is it State or Republic of Texas? Mr. West. State of Texas. Mr. Barr. State of Texas. The Honorable Royce West and the Honorable Robert Duncan. Senators, welcome. We appreciate your being with us today. We know that both of you have extensive experience in this particular area, as I understand it, both of you having been instrumental in the drafting of the Texas legislation on anti-racial profiling. We're also happy and honored to have with us today the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, Colonel Charles Dunbar. And I believe the gentlelady from New York has some welcoming comments for the colonel. Mrs. Maloney of New York. I just want to thank the chairman on holding this hearing on this important issue, and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings for really requesting it and helping to make it happen. I look forward to the testimony of all of the witnesses. But I would particularly like to welcome Colonel Dunbar from the great State of New Jersey, which is right next door to New York, and we share many facilities between our two regions in the tri-State borough, and I particularly want to welcome him. He represents the region that I'm from, and I'm glad to see you. Glad you are here. Mr. Barr. Thank you, gentle lady. The final two witnesses on our second panel are both gentlemen who have also had actual experience with regard to the subject matter at hand, and that is racial profiling. Two very distinguished members of the bar: Mr. Mark Finnegan, a plaintiff's counsel from Ohio--Mr. Finnegan, we welcome your being with us today; and Mr. Robert Wilkins with the District of Columbia Bar Association, member of the D.C. Bar, who also has experiences that he would like to relate to us today. Counsel, we very much appreciate your being with us today. At this time I'd like the four witnesses to stand and raise their right hands to be sworn in. [Witnesses sworn.] Mr. Barr. Thank you. Let the record reflect that all five witnesses answered in the affirmative. We appreciate your all being here. I believe you are all familiar with the procedures that we have here in the committee. Each witness is afforded 5 minutes to make an opening statement, and following that each member of the committee will have 5 minutes to ask questions and you'll have time, obviously, to respond. If there is material that you would like submitted in addition to your oral comments, submit them. The record will remain open for-- counsel, 7 days? For 7 days for the submission of any additional material. And with that, I would like to recognize Senator Royce West for 5 minutes, sir. STATEMENTS OF HON. ROYCE WEST, TEXAS SENATE; HON. ROBERT DUNCAN, TEXAS SENATE; CHARLES DUNBAR, JR., SUPERINTENDENT, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE; MARK FINNEGAN, ESQ., HEBERLE AND FINNEGAN, LTD.; AND ROBERT WILKINS, ESQ. Mr. West. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee. It's indeed a pleasure to appear before you to talk about and be a part of the deliberation on dealing with this particular issue. It's a pleasure to appear before you today. The issue of racial profiling, I don't think I need to get into the issue of it, I think that everyone in the United States perceives it as a problem. What I'd like to do is to spend my time talking about potential solutions to the issue of racial profiling. In the State of Texas we passed Senate bill 1074, and I believe that each of the members of the committee has a copy and also an analysis of that particular bill. What I'd like to do is to kind of go through the process, what we attempted to accomplish and the process by which we accomplished our goals. Needles to say, being a veteran of the legislative process, albeit the State legislative process, I didn't get everything that I wanted but I got some of the things that I wanted, and I believe that as a result of working with my colleague, Senator Duncan, we were able to pass a pretty good bill. Central to this particular bill is in fact the issue of video-audio recording. We believe that particular facet of the bill provides an impartial third party to look at interactions between law enforcement and also citizens. We believe that particular aspect of the bill not only helps deal with issues of racial profiling but also protects officers from frivolous complaints, protects citizens from overzealous police actions, provides a very good training tool. In addition, it provides evidence in criminal cases which may very well have the impact of reducing the amount of time that citizens have to spend in the criminal justice system, through the judicial process and also prosecutorial time; and we have not been able to, needless to say, measure that. I know that the past speaker was asked a question about whether or not there's any studies out in academia or anyplace else to measure the impact of the use of audio-visual as it relates to racial profiling. I know of no such studies, and we attempted to look at that when we were looking at passage of this particular bill. We believe that this is cutting edge and that given the state of technology in this country and this world, that we should in fact put in place video--audio-visual recording in police vehicles. How did we get to this particular juncture and what does 1074 provide? Believe it or not, we were able to bring in some of the Nation's most notable and credible civil rights organizations and sit them down at the table with rank-and-file law enforcement organizations in the State of Texas. The organizations that were a part of crafting this particular bill and signed off on this particular bill were as follows: No. 1, the NAACP State chapter in the State of Texas, the ACLU, ERISA, MALDAF, all signed off on this legislation, as well as several rank-and-file organizations through the police agencies. What Senate bill 1074 does is the following: No. 1, it puts in place a reporting requirement, a collection and reporting requirement for police agencies. I want you to just kind of visualize this. There's a minimum reporting requirement and there's an expansive reporting requirement. If police agencies decide to put in place audio-visual recording, then they are not subject to the more expansive reporting requirement but they still must continue the minimum reporting requirement. The minimum reporting requirement is pretty much akin to the information that is currently collected, at least in the State of Texas on traffic citations. What we have mandated in the State of Texas as a result of passage of this bill is that the race ethnicity of the person that is issued the citation be recorded, as well as to record whether or not there was in fact a search and whether the search was in fact consensual. We also provide that each law enforcement agency must promulgate policies dealing with racial profiling and that the report of the data that is being collected be turned over to the governing agency of that particular law enforcement agency. If it's a city council, then the city council. In addition, we require training that each law enforcement officer that is certified in the State of Texas, they must go through--as part of their annual education, that they have to go through at least, of course, dealing with the issue of racial profiling. Not only the rank and file, but also the chief of police must also go through such a training and, needless to say, be certified. We require that the law enforcement agency that oversees police officers in the State of Texas develop, help develop model policies as it relates to racial profiling and also that the institution of higher education where many law enforcement officers seek training develop a course on racial profiling. We believe that by putting in place the training component, the audio-visuals and their collection and the reporting back to the local unit of government, that it will help address the issue of racial profiling in the State of Texas. How are we funding this? The State grappled with this particular issue. We sent out surveys in terms of the number of police agencies that we have in the State of Texas and how many police cars would need to be outfitted with these cameras, and needless to say, we've gotten back probably about a 62 percent response from the various police agencies. The agencies reported that it was going to be in the neighborhood of some $34 million. What we've done in the State of Texas because we cannot accurately gauge how much it's going to cost, we set aside through general obligation bonds about $18 million in order to begin to address the issue. If law enforcement agencies, some of which have already received grants from the Federal Government, if those particular agencies come to the Department of Public Safety, the agency that will be responsible for providing vouchers and grants, and make a good faith effort in terms of applying for the audio- visual equipment, then--and if some particular reason we don't have the funds in order to accommodate those entities, then what we will do is provide them an exemption until the State has put up the necessary funds for purposes of providing that particular equipment. It is my hope and desire that this noble body will also look at the issue and provide the necessary funding to deal with the issue of racial profiling. Mr. Barr. Thank you very much, Senator. Senator Duncan, you're recognized for 5 minutes, sir. Mr. Duncan. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. I think one of the reasons I was asked to come here was to comment a little bit on how we developed a bipartisan support for this legislation in the State of Texas. I think it and, very briefly, I think what happened there was, No. 1, you have to have leadership on any issue. I think Senator West did an outstanding job of bringing the issue forward. I think that he was assisted by a lot of folks. One of those was President Bush. President Bush came forward, Attorney General Ashcroft came forward, I believe, with this leadership on this issue and stated that racial profiling should not be tolerated in this country, and I think Republicans generally in the State of Texas and others do believe that there is really no conservative principle that can support prolonging or assisting racial profiling by allowing it to continue to occur, not recognizing that it may occur. So we worked with Senator West and I think Senator West addressed the Republican caucus in the State of Texas, Senate of Texas. We worked with Senator West because we know he has the ability to pull people together. He did. He pulled together the law enforcement community, I think, on this issue, which was a key to that. The concern that we had was that we did not want this legislation to be more or less a Trojan horse for litigation under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. We felt that under the Monnell decision there were some protections that needed to be preserved and we didn't need to have loopholes or provide continued or expansion of litigation perhaps with regard to the collection of data, and so we worked with Senator West. We believe that the camera was the key to be able to balance that. We provided in there that the collection of data, there is collection of data in this bill by everyone. It changes, if you have the cameras; the level and the type of data that you collect is different. If you don't have cameras, you have to get very specific with all data and the data that you collect is on all stops, traffic or pedestrian. If you do not, if you have the cameras and the collection requirement is simply on citations and arrest and it's basically whether the person consented, the race ethnicity, and then whether or not they were searched and whether they consented to the search, and that's basically all you report. We felt like the cameras were a good compromise. That was Senator West's idea, and I think that the cameras provide law enforcement functions. They provide protection functions. They are deterrent, they provide a deterrent element to this, and we felt like it was a good investment. Like Senator West, I believe that the States should participate in assisting municipalities in acquiring this technology. I think that it would also be helpful if the Federal Government should assist the States and the municipalities as well to make this a partnership because it is expensive, but it is a good law enforcement tool and it protects the rights of our citizens. I believe it prevents racial profiling, will help prevent it, which is what we really want to do, and then I do believe it provides a lot of other law enforcement functions separate and apart from racial profiling. So that basically wraps up pretty much where I am on this, and I appreciate the opportunity to work with Senator West on this issue. Mr. Barr. Thank you, Senator. Colonel Dunbar, we are happy to have you with us today and you are recognized for 5 minutes for an opening statement. Mr. Dunbar. Thank you very much. First, let me just mention to Senators Duncan and West that I think you're certainly taking the right road and if there's anything that we can do to assist you, we've been in this about 3 years, we'd be more than happy to work with you. The New Jersey State Police I think has the largest fleet of in-car cameras in the country and we've had that. Virtually every one of our patrol vehicles has had a camera in it going back to 1998. I have over 23 years of experience in special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Prior to becoming special agent I served for 4 years as a New Jersey State trooper. In 1999 I was asked by Governor Whitman of New Jersey to assume command of the New Jersey State Police, an agency of just under 4,000 personnel, which has 120 different law enforcement functions. At the time of my appointment the New Jersey State Police had been at the epicenter of an issue involving racial profiling. The Attorney General of New Jersey issued the interim final reports on the State police that raised very serious questions regarding the organization. In addition, the minority caucus of the State legislatures held hearings regarding the State police initiative, very critical report. In December 1999, the New Jersey State Police signed a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice which is scheduled to last for 5 years. An independent Federal monitor has been appointed and has issued the first 4 of 22 expected quarterly reports. Each of the reports have been very favorable with the monitor stating that the New Jersey State Police have in fact taken significant strides in reform. In fact, after 1\1/2\ years we are already over 70 percent compliant with the final phase of compliance in the decree. The items still outside the compliance are computerization of our management systems to track personnel activities and behaviors. This computerized system is expected to be deployed later this year. When I assumed my responsibility, the need for strong internal control, discipline and ability to assess how the job was being done in the field was and is still paramount. It is my position that no better tool exists for today's law enforcement manager than the mobile video cameras, MVRs. There is no doubt that my present task would have been much more difficult without the MVR. When I assumed my position, the media and the public questioned how we performed our duties. There appeared almost daily some question regarding our fairness in dealing with the public. Complaints regarding field operations increased from 260 in 1998 to 350 in 1999, 580 in 2000 and this year we're on a pace that we would have 800 complaints. Complaints come from individuals of all colors and stations of life. By consent decree we must thoroughly investigate each of these complaints and must make the findings of our investigations available to a Federal monitor. This has and will continue to be done. Without the video cameras I would not have been able to demonstrate that the vast majority of complaints received by the State police are unfounded and in some cases brought about by opportunists. You will see such a video today that is common in our complaint cycle. When complaining as a professional who has written a very convincing letter alleged--that I received and read within weeks of my assuming office--a letter that based upon the individual's background and the fact that it was notarized would have led me to have serious questions regarding the conduct of the trooper involved, yet you will clearly see that the trooper involved in this motor vehicle stop had every reason to stop the vehicle and conduct themselves in a professional manner. When mobile video recorders were first introduced, there were those that resisted them. Today we have troopers that will not go on patrol without them. My personal view of hundreds of videos has truly been an education. I have found individuals who have absolutely no basis for their complaints, yet they use the complaint process as a means to strike back at a trooper who is trying to do his or her job. We receive telephone calls where the complainant states he or she will drop charges if the summons issued is dismissed. In one case a complainant stated that he was an aggressive driver and that he'd drove hard. He went on to state that the first time the trooper pulled in front of him, he tried to go around him and then the trooper continued to try to pull him over. On the other hand, we have also seen troopers who have been rude, have lost their composure and in several occasions have conducted themselves in a manner that is a serious violation of our rules and regulations. At the present I believe that less than 10 percent of our complaints have real merit. MVRs are also an important tool in training. We have uncovered countless training issues that we can then use in our teaching sessions. One of the issues of recent note is that troopers may engage in conduct that they are not aware of. We have used the videotapes as spot training for individual troopers. We are also using both good and bad tapes for in- service and recruit training. MVRs do bring with them costs for agencies and many additional legal issues. We will be storing over 50,000 tapes per year. We anticipate that we will have an ongoing inventory of over 400,000 tapes. We are spending in excess of $500,000 for new storage facilities. We have had to create new video camera policies, hire new staff. We are working on discovery issues as they pertain to tapes and addressing a variety of technical issues. We are now exploring the relocation of video cameras from within the vehicle to roof lights. Now, after 3 years we are still seeing that most of our video cameras will not last in the field for longer than 3 years. These cameras cost in excess of $3,000 each. At present, the technology requires minute for minute duplication. This is a very time consuming prospect. We have technical difficulties with microphones and video cameras themselves. When I began my assignment with the State police there was a major concern that cameras would not be used in the manner required. We consider this to be a serious breach of responsibility. Our legislature is pursuing possible criminal violations for tampering with video cameras and I support this. We require an officer to initiate the camera prior to the stop and continue to operate the camera until the stop is concluded. This includes activating a microphone during this entire period. We are now directing that whenever possible the video camera be activated to observe the actual violation. This is not practical in every case. However, it helps greatly in resolving complaints, as you will see in the video that will be shown. In addition to our MVRs, we are an agency that is also heavily involved in data collection. This is a component of our consent decree. Data collection will also provide management with additional insight into field operations. However, while I do not fear data collection, I've already seen it misused. The ability to collect data, to see exactly what officers are doing and to get an up to the minute review is every administrator's dream. At the same time, the very data can be used out of context and lead to wrong conclusions. It has been said, and I agree, that one can make data appear to support any side of an issue. I have spoken to the State police and provincial police section of the International Association for Chiefs of Police. Their position is that they support voluntary data collection, but we agree that MVRs will contribute more to resolving today's law enforcement issues. As was stated by the Department of Justice, where MVRs were needed, last year $12 million were made available and this year only $3 million have been made available. As you move forward in this area, I ask that you give strong consideration to providing Federal support and funding additional mobile video recorders. In my discussions with other law enforcement leaders, I know that they are very interested in obtaining more MVRs, but the cost of the units will require years of supplemental budgets to fully integrate them into the field. Last year the Department of Justice, as I said, made available--I thought it was $10 million for purchase of video cameras. This tool is extremely important for both officer safety and professional policing, and it should be a top priority of the Federal Government. If the general public knows that both they and the officer are being monitored, it will strengthen their confidence in the way the law enforcement works. As a law enforcement leader, it is always my hope that when an individual does not perform in the way he or she should that the individual's behavior can be changed. Make no mistake, changing behavior is no easy task. However, with the MVR if you cannot change the behavior, you can at least modify it, and that is the first step in ensuring that our police force protects the rights of all our citizens. My understanding is that you want to show the videotape. The videotape that we're going to be viewing is a stop that took place in 1999. It took place on the New Jersey Turnpike. The trooper is in an unmarked car operating the video. You will see on the lefthand side of the screen there's a black vehicle on the far side. Now this is the New Jersey Turnpike, so I guarantee you that the vehicles there are not going 55 miles an hour. The chances are they're probably all doing 70, and I give you that speed because the comparison is the black Mercedes. I believe that is on the side of the road. You will get a closer shot. I'll also note that this videotape has been edited to delete the time it took the trooper to issue the summons. We did provide the committee with a full copy of this, so it's not edited to hide anything. The individual that is driving that vehicle has indicated by letter to my office that he was a retired military officer and a principal in a school. He submitted a written letter which was notarized saying that the trooper stopped him, the trooper spat on him, that there was no basis for the stop. And I think the video pretty much will speak for itself. The actual clock, what he's doing now is pacing the vehicle and the pace of the vehicle reaches up to 92 miles per hour. This section of the highway is a six-lane section. The troop vehicle which will now be shifting over the car portion is actually operating in the truck portion of the vehicle--of the roadway. Now, from a profiling point of view, as you can see, it's very difficult to see who the occupants of the vehicle are at this point because he's behind the vehicle, and he has already made the decision when he switches over the other side of the highway. This is one of the breaks in the roadway here. I'll also have you notice when a vehicle is pulled over you will notice there's a very dangerous procedure, there's almost a collision that takes place at the time that the vehicle pulls over. By now the trooper had determined that he's going to make the stop, and again, it's very difficult to see who the driver of the vehicle is. Now, I don't know, will they have the sound up high on this? As you watch as he pulls over, the vehicle parks this way. Because on the New Jersey Turnpike our troopers never approach the vehicle on the driver's side of the vehicle because we've lost more troopers like that than we have lost to gunfire. So the trooper will always blade his car halfway between the roadway and the vehicle and then will approach from the passenger side of the vehicle for the trooper's own safety. Sometimes the trooper will get out of the vehicle and walk in between the two cars. Other times the trooper will go behind the vehicle and approach completely on the passenger side of the vehicle. For privacy's sake we've edited out the license plate of the vehicle and we've also edited out the name of the trooper, and again, if you look at the vehicle here, I think you should be able to see that you really can't tell who was in the vehicle. There are two passengers in there and--the passenger and a driver, I should say. The M indicates that the microphone has come on. Our policy in New Jersey, and this is an important policy, the microphone. [Video playing.] Mr. Dunbar. The driver is saying he's sorry he knows he was speeding and he was in a hurry to get someplace. What he's saying there is since I have a perfect driving record is it possible that I can get a warning. Now is the point where we edit the film, you will see the time jump from 957 to 1010. Now, we elected actually to prosecute this individual because he had notarized the letter, and in fact I've liberalized the policy on prosecution. For the first year we limited the prosecutions to only five people because you had to do something extra. I did not want to show complaints, but this is one of the ones we did in fact prosecute. He was found-- actually pled guilty and received, I think, a 30-day, 30-day community service and $400 fine for his actions. I would note for the Senators that one of the things that we found extremely important is that the troopers were very reluctant to turn off their microphones in their vehicle. We mandate that from the time the stop begins and the time the stop ends that the camera and microphone must be on. There's too much that's missed in between and it leads to tremendous amount of suspicion, and that was one more of the difficult things to overcome. But we hold very strongly to the policy of activating the camera and issues of tampering with cameras and things like that. Mr. Shays [presiding]. Thank you, Colonel. Very helpful testimony and the film was very informative. Mr. Finnegan. Mr. Finnegan. Thank you for inviting me here to testify. My name is Mark Finnegan and I have been certified by the Federal Court as the attorney for a class of all Latino motorists and passengers driving in the State of Ohio. I've submitted written testimony which is already before the counsel, and I've been asked to narrate a videotape. I wanted to say a couple of things of introduction for the tape and then it's a very short tape. In Ohio what our lawsuit has shown and what the Federal Court has ruled is that in Ohio every year thousands of people are stopped during routine traffic stops in the State of Ohio by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and although the Ohio State Highway Patrol does not enforce Federal immigration law and does not give its troopers any substantive immigration law, thousands of people every year are interrogated and held for additional questioning on the issue of their immigration status. What our lawsuit said and what the judge agreed was because the Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers have no training in immigration law and don't really understand how it works, they use as the sole reason for questioning people their Hispanic appearance. In this room, if any of you happened to be driving through the State of Ohio and got stopped, most of you would not be asked about your immigration status, including me. When I ask troopers under oath, including the troopers involved in the stop on the videotape, if they would demand to see my green card, one of the troopers said you being you or you being Hispanic, and another trooper said of course not because you're a White man. But then when we asked the troopers why are you asking certain people for immigration cards, they knew better than to say because they look like Mexicans to me. So they would say one of two things and they said this under oath. No. 1, the motorist and passengers acted in some way that was suspicious to me, that made me think they were here without papers and, No. 2, oh, it was completely consensual, we were just chatting about their immigration status that I know gladly told me everything I wanted to know. In the case that triggered the lawsuit, the situation, a middle-aged couple with permanent resident alien cards which were completely legitimate were stopped by Highway Patrol troopers for having a burned out parking light even though it was 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, but it was true they were driving with their parking lights and one of them was burned out. They weren't given a ticket and there's no record of their stop. But they both had their green cards confiscated and the Highway Patrol refused to give them a receipt for the green cards, refused to explain to them why they were taking the card, refused to tell them how to get the cards back. That's what triggered the lawsuit. This videotape was part of the evidence in the lawsuit and, like I say, because the couple that was initially stopped, there was no record of any sort of them having been stopped, this is a videotape of a different stop. But it involves Latino drivers and passengers and it involves the exact same troopers in a stop that triggered the lawsuit. In the course of the lawsuit the Highway Patrol admitted under oath that it is routine for them when they stop people who appear to be Latino that they start interrogating them about immigration status and even if you're a Puerto Rican and automatically a U.S. citizen if you fail to produce a green card you will be held for additional questioning and the Border Patrol will be called. They will ask you the question, did you pay for your green card? Anyone who knows anything about immigration law knows that there is an application fee for a green card. Also, you usually have to hire an attorney to get one. You have to pay notaries, you have to pay all sorts of document fees. So of course the honest answer is yes, I paid for green card. Troopers repeatedly testified under oath that an answer that you paid for your green card made you suspicious and was grounds for your card to be confiscated and destroyed. Now, the Federal Court agreed with us, specifically found that this was not consensual questioning about immigration status, that it was coercive by nature, and ordered the Highway Patrol to stop questioning people about immigration status based solely upon their appearance and also stop seizing lawfully issued green cards. The Highway Patrol appealed that decision and it's currently pending before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Now today's videotape, like I say, involves a different set of motorists, but what it will show, and it shows it relatively quickly, is that the Chevy Suburban was pulled over for changing lanes without a signal, although that doesn't show up in the videotape, and that when the trooper approached and asked to see the driver's license it was readily given but then for some reason the trooper demanded to see the driver's license of both passengers in the vehicle, which were readily given. Then the trooper asked to see the registration of the vehicle, which was readily given and is valid, as are all three of the driver's licenses. The trooper turns from the car and radios in the three California driver's licenses but for some reason then turns on his heel and comes back and demands to see the three people's green cards, and that's what the tape shows. When I confronted the troopers with this videotape during their deposition, they said I don't remember, I make so many stops. I don't remember why I demanded to see the green card but it was because the people in the vehicle were acting suspiciously. Well, the videotape I think is helpful and the court found it was helpful to see whether there was suspicious activity going on. [Video played.] Mr. Finnegan. See, in this tape we have no idea why the stop was made. [The prepared statement of Mr. Finnegan follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.037 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.038 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.039 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.040 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.041 Mr. Shays. Thank you. Mr. Wilkins. Mr. Wilkins. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank Chairman Burton, in his absence and Congressman Cummings also in his absence, for their leadership in having this hearing, and as well as the entire committee for your interest in this issue. I'm going to just try to briefly discuss what happened in my particular circumstance and lawsuit and then get to, right to the issue of what I see as the benefits, but also the limitations of audio-visual technology in addressing racial profiling. Unfortunately, I am a victim of racial profiling. I was with my cousin and my uncle and his wife when we were returning from my grandfather's funeral when we were driving through western Maryland and stopped by the Maryland State Police allegedly for speeding, but rather than just writing a speeding ticket, the trooper demanded that we sign a consent to search form allowing him to search our rental car for drugs or weapons. When I explained to the trooper that--as well as my cousin, who was the driver--that we did not wish to consent, his response was, well, if you've got nothing to hide then what's your problem and this is routine, nobody ever objects and basically that there was some sort of problem or that we were suspicious or trouble because we weren't willing to consent to this search. And when we wouldn't consent, he said that we would have to wait for a drug sniffing dog to be brought to the scene and I told him the name and date of the U.S. Supreme Court case that said that he couldn't do that, but none of that seemed to matter to this trooper, who responded that this was routine. And he knew that I was a lawyer, and I told him that I was in fact a public defender in Washington, DC. So I knew exactly what his rights were and our rights were, but none of this mattered because he said they were having problems with rental cars and drugs and therefore they were going to have to take this action. And indeed they did force us to wait for the dog to come and we had to stand outside of our car in the rain as this German shepherd climbed all over and on top of and under our car sniffing for drugs that weren't there. We sued and learned that the Maryland State Police had actually issued an intelligence bulletin, which is appended to my testimony, that directed their troopers to be on the lookout for Black males in rental cars from Virginia traveling through that area early in the morning and late at night because they were likely to be drug traffickers, and so in our case we actually had a smoking gun and we actually had the trooper's statements that they were concerned with rental cars and drugs that we could link to that smoking gun, and that gave us some leverage in dealing with the Maryland State Police as far as being able to make a case that they were engaging in a pattern and practice of racial discrimination. We used that leverage to extract a settlement that not only included new nondiscrimination policy and training, but also data collection on who was being stopped and searched and for what reasons and the race of the people being stopped and searched. And with that data being available to us for several years so that we could monitor that along with the Federal Court and see how they were doing with combating racial profiling, unfortunately that data showed that the problem was persisting. And there's more information about that in my written testimony, but suffice it to say the data showed that when the Maryland State Police searched the hundred Whites and the hundred Blacks they were just as likely to find drugs or contraband. The problem is that for every 100 Whites they were searching they were searching 400 or 500 Blacks, and so it was anything but equal justice under law and there was no real reasonable explanation whatsoever for that disparity. And unfortunately those disparities continue till today, though not quite at as high a level. So to get to audio-visual technology, I think that audio- visual technology would have been helpful had it existed in 1992, when we were stopped by the Maryland State Police, because we unfortunately were in a situation where it was going to be our word against this trooper's about what happened and what we said and whether we were behaving suspiciously. And I have appended to my testimony not only the settlement agreement, but also the report that the trooper wrote after we notified the Maryland State Police that we intended to sue, and the report had some very important falsehoods in it that were designed to show that we were more suspicious than we really were and that he was more considerate of our rights than he really was and that we were agreeable to all of this detention and drug sniffing dogs when in fact we weren't, and I did everything I could in the most peaceful manner that I could to protest what he was doing. And so it's quite a powerless feeling when you're going into a lawsuit and you know that it is your word against someone else's and you don't know whether the jury is going to believe you, even though you know that you're telling the truth, and so I think that the audio-visual technology can help diminish that imbalance of power that victims feel and provide an independent third party witness. But it's not a panacea because, as you can even see from the tapes that we reviewed, you can't see everything and you can't hear everything during the incident, and so it's not going to capture everything. Of course, it will be helpful, but also the videotapes can't really help you look at whether there are patterns and practices the way that you can if you have data collection because you can't look at every single videotape as a police department manager and you can't really use the tapes as a substitute for data that will show you trends in certain areas or with certain officers. And so while I'm encouraged by this hearing and encouraged that you're interested in supporting in whatever ways you can the expansion of audio-visual technology, I still think that you need to support and consider legislation such as Congressman Conyers' legislation and legislation that Congresswoman Norton mentioned earlier today, because ultimately you need to take more strong steps and proactive steps, and I think that the loss of Federal funding is a good incentive to encourage the State and local jurisdictions to be proactive. Thank you. [The prepared statement of Mr. Wilkins follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.042 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.043 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.044 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.045 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.046 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.047 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.048 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.049 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.050 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.051 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.052 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.053 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.054 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.055 Mr. Shays. Thank you, Mr. Wilkins. I thank all of you. I apologize to my two colleagues in the elected side of our, of this panel for missing your testimony. I'd like to just read a comment that Sherman would have made had he been here to you, Senator West, saying I personally want to congratulate you for your hard work to combat racial profiling in Texas and for the bipartisan effort that resulted in the passage of a new Texas law that prohibits racial profiling. And also Senator Duncan, he said I also salute you and other Texas Republicans' efforts to work in a bipartisan fashion to enact the Texas racial profiling law. I think you described it in some measure. I would like either of you to just tell me, was this something where both parties had consensus on or was there a bit of struggle at first? Was this, for instance--Mr. Duncan, did you have to be persuaded over time or did you--were you aware of this problem originally? I would imagine, for instance, Mr. West being, I assume, an African American, that you would have been more aware of this kind of problem and so, Mr. Duncan, maybe both of you could just respond from your own perspectives as to how you did this. Mr. Duncan. I think Senator West does an excellent job in the Texas Senate of raising issues like this, that while those of us who are not of African American descent or Hispanic descent may not have those personal experiences or have our constituents talking to us, he was more aware of it. He made this issue aware or made our caucus aware of this in the Texas Senate, continued to pull all of the law enforcement groups together. They worked with--including the Associations of the Chiefs of Police, and I think whenever he was able to develop that undercurrent or the grassroots sort of support from those associations, he got the attention of a lot of members who normally wouldn't be involved in that, proactively in that type of an issue. Mr. Shays. If you don't walk in that moccasin you don't always know what it's like. Mr. Duncan. That's right, or if you don't represent a number of constituents who walk in those shoes. So it helps to have someone like Senator West to bring the issue forward and raise it to the level that he did. I think President Bush helped and Attorney General Ashcroft whenever I think they took a proactive staff. I know it did affect the members, the Republican and more conservative members of the Texas Senate, that this is not an issue that is--there is no conservative principle that supports anything that perpetuates the practice of racial profiling, and I think Senator West got that across. Mr. Shays. Senator? Mr. West. And might I add, this was an unusual session for the Texas Legislature, and if I had to kind of sum up what we did, we dealt with a lot of civil and individual rights this session like none other before in the history as far as I know. I mean hate crimes passed in the State of Texas this time around and also racial profiling. So did DNA that Senator Duncan kind of led the effort on. So we had a whole host of individual and civil rights bills that have been considered in previous legislation but had never been passed and it was passed this session, racial profiling being one of them. Mr. Shays. Colonel Dunbar, Mr. Finnegan, this is really a tremendous panel because we have people who help promulgate very important law, we have both of you who can explain two sides of the benefit of the visual look at an arrest or, excuse me, a question, a stop issue, and, Mr. Wilkins, to have you as someone who has gone through it from the side of being truly a victim of it. I thank all of you for that contribution. Colonel, I would think and, Mr. Finnegan as well, that if you know you're an officer and you know you're on tape--they say it sometimes on the floor of the House, Members act differently when there's TV cameras on--I think they would act differently but over time, and maybe I'll start with you, Mr. Finnegan, he knew, the officer knew he was on tape, and did he not know he was doing something wrong or did he just forget the TV was on or was it a combination of both? And maybe you can respond from your perspective, Colonel, but first you, Mr. Finnegan. Mr. Finnegan. Well, what was interesting I thought about the tape was that the trooper goes up and announces that it's, you know, you were paced slightly over the speed limit, and that is a friendly warning, and yet there are five troopers wandering around in the background. So we know that there was something funny about the stop, and I thought a lot of the troopers were trying to stay out of camera range. Mr. Shays. I only thought there were three. Mr. Finnegan. There were five as it turned out and a sixth one showed up with the dog. That is what the questioning was about. They were trying to hold them up, like with Mr. Wilkins, until the dog got there. No, he really thought it was all right if you saw someone with brown skin to start asking them about immigration status, and he was the trooper that when I said would you demand to see my green card, he said, you being you or you being Hispanic--and the Highway Patrol actually had a written policy still in effect that said if a person appears to be in illegal status institute questioning about immigration. And I said what do you mean ``appears,'' and some of the troopers said they look like Mexicans, others said---- Mr. Shays. So the bottom line point is that whether they evolved into this practice they really weren't as aware as you would think they would be that maybe they were over the line. Mr. Finnegan. That's right, they thought they were doing the right thing. Mr. Shays. So it tells me there's a value in just having this because I would think--which gets me to you, Colonel. I would think that supervisors would periodically look at these and maybe at random, and I would think you would be able to improve the practices of your officers in the process of also protecting them and the citizens. Mr. Dunbar. Well, first of all, we do have a policy that supervisors have to review tapes. Actually we review tapes on three different levels. We have a supervisor reviewing the tape, we have an inspection staff that comes in and reviews the tapes, and we have an office within the Attorney General's Office called the Office of State Police Affairs that comes in and reviews the tapes. Unfortunately, I think what Mr. Finnegan says is correct, that what ends up happening is that for whatever reasons practices begin and they're unacceptable practices. I've seen tapes somewhat similar to this where the individual believes that they're doing the job. In fact, we teach what's called noble cause corruption, and what noble cause corruption means is that the ends--the means justifies the ends, and that's something that we are trying to get away from. People will ask and I've seen--well, in New Jersey we've had a series of Supreme Court decisions that limit checks as far as, you know, lost driver's license and so on, but this, Mr. Finnegan's tape, is an issue that we are looking at in New Jersey. That I have seen, and it is a--I think you made an interesting observation when you asked a question of, you know, you would think, well, you know, the reality of it is if a person doesn't believe or know what he or she is doing wrong is wrong, that's what--you end up with problems, I think, as was shown on that tape. Mr. Shays. Let me ask one last question and then I don't know if Mr. Barr, if you have some questions you'd like to ask. Mr. Wilkins, in the work that you have done, and maybe others could answer as well, is it conceivable that even an African American might get caught up in racial profiling against another African American? Is that something that can happen as well? I mean, would that ever be in your experience, Senator West or Mr. Wilkins, or is it almost always 99 percent of the time a Caucasian would do that. Mr. Dunbar. There's actually a Justice Department study that was done by the Bureau of Statistics that actually points that out. There's really no difference between African Americans and non-African Americans in relationships with the public. So from my point of view, I think it's very possible. Mr. Wilkins. Yeah, I think that it's definitely conceivable and it definitely happens that African American and other police officers of color can engage in these practices because I think that the practices themselves just mirror invalid and erroneous and illegal stereotypes and part of just American culture, and so you can't expect police officers or troopers to really be immune from it no matter what the color of their skin is. I do think in some occasions that some of the whistleblowers and the police officers and the troopers that have come forth to try to help address problems have been African American and other minority ethnic and racial groups, and so I think that there is sometimes more of a sensitivity by some of those troopers, but they can definitely get caught up in the same problem. Mr. Shays. I can't imagine almost anything scarier than to think that you can be in a society where you have laws and you realize how protected you feel from them, but not feel they wouldn't be administered fairly and equitably and it has to be, you used the word ``powerless'' and that's--but you have to feel even worse than powerless, you have to feel extraordinarily vulnerable and it must be very scary and it must, I can even think, it's a hard word to describe. I think it would be scary as hell, frankly. But we, for some reason I guess, divided each panel into half an hour slots and I have ended up taking 10 minutes. I don't know if we each should go for 10 minutes and if you would like to jump in or how you'd like me to proceed. Why don't you go for 10 minutes? Mrs. Maloney of New York. Thank you very much and, first of all, I want to comment that my colleague Elijah Cummings worked very, very hard to have this hearing, and I appreciate the chairman for holding it and we're trying to locate him. He has a conflict with another meeting that he has to be part of, but he wants to get back to questions, and thank you and particularly, Senators West and Duncan, thank you for your testimony and your hard work to enact this law. I hope I have time to hear from you about your reactions to the Conyers law that is similar to yours, and I particularly want to hear how the exemption provisions work in your legislation. But first I'd like to really talk to Mr. Wilkins and thank him for coming forward with his personal experience and for your hard work really to reach a settlement that helps people, and part of your settlement was that the police are required to collect data on traffic stops, correct, and why do you think that data collection is such an important tool for combating racial profiling? Mr. Wilkins. Well, I think that it's proven to be very important in the State of Maryland because we had a situation where our lawsuit got a lot of publicity. I mean it's not often that you have a Harvard law graduate attorney who cites the Supreme Court precedent to the trooper and still gets stopped and then you get a smoking gun with a written racial profile and all of that turns into a lawsuit. So there was a lot of pressure on them and there was a lot of people watching how they were going to react to this issue and these allegations, and we reached a settlement and they adopted a new policy and they trained every trooper as to that new policy and they started gathering data, and they knew it was going to a Federal judge and to the ACLU and to me and they knew that none of us was going away, and yet with all of that, all of that attention and pressure and everything else, we got this data that to this day can't be explained on any other basis except that there must be some discrimination going on in the Maryland State Police because these disparities just can't be explained any other way. And so if you have policies in place and people being watched and it's still taking place, you know that this is a pretty pervasive and a cultural and a problem that's going to take a lot of management and attention, and you can't expect that just putting some video cameras in cars or just adopting new policies is going to eradicate it. It's a problem that unfortunately is as endemic to policing as racial discrimination is endemic to the culture of this country, something that's going to take generations and lots of hard work and special sensitivity to deal with. And so that's why I think that the data collection is important, because you would think that with all of that there wouldn't be any problems in Maryland still today and yet there are, just like you would think that with the video cameras in the cars you wouldn't see troopers doing some of the things that we see them doing. And so I think that you really need all of these tools in your arsenal to try to fight this problem. Mrs. Maloney of New York. What you're basically saying is that you have to change attitudes? Mr. Wilkins. Exactly. Mrs. Maloney of New York. And it's a longer, harder road. I am particularly sensitive not only to racial profiling against minorities but also against women. Violence against women was not treated seriously by many law enforcement officers and most notably the attacks in Central Park, where many women reported that they approached police officers and they wouldn't help them when they had been mauled and attacked. And so maybe we need more attention not only in audio- visual technology and collecting data, but really in educating attitudes in our society and, Colonel Dunbar, you testified that in some cases audio-visual technology can be used to exonerate police officers that have been wrongly accused of racial profiling. Protecting innocent police officers from false accusation is very important, but do you agree that racial profiling does exist? Mr. Dunbar. Yes. Mrs. Maloney of New York. And wouldn't you agree that in order to deal with the problem of profiling we need to understand the scope and severity of the problem and that requiring data collection is a way to do that? Mr. Dunbar. I think actually everything that Mr. Wilkins said is right on the money, that it is a very complex issue and what people are looking for is a quick fix. Mr. Wilkins talked about generations. I mean, unfortunately, I think, and I think you used the term ``attitudes,'' it is about changing attitudes. It is about changing policing and the thing that we've adopted in the State police is that we will do our job constitutionally and with compassion, and I go out and I sell that every single day. It is data collection, it is the video cameras, it is training and it is supervision on a daily basis. Mrs. Maloney of New York. Do you believe you need both data collection and the videos or could you have one or the other? Mr. Dunbar. No, I think it's beyond that. I think you need data collection, I think you need the video, and I think you need constant training and supervision. People are looking for a quick fix. There is no quick fix to this. Mrs. Maloney of New York. I agree, I agree. I know I, along with many women, we went to the police department after these assaults in Central Park, and I believe that New York's police officers are the bravest in the world. They're not afraid of anything. That's why they're police officers. They're there to protect people, but for some reason some of them didn't think that hitting or beating or stripping a woman was a crime, and one officer made a comment to me that we can't change attitudes and, you know, admitting that attitudes are a problem. What is happening in the police field on attitudes, Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Dunbar, Mr. Finnegan, anyone who would like to comment? I agree with you, Mr. Wilkins and Colonel Dunbar, that it's a deep problem that goes farther than videos and data collection. It goes to attitudes of how you treat another person. Mr. Dunbar. One of the things I think I need to say, I think there are a lot of police officers, probably the vast majority, that do their job and they do the job professionally. There are those individuals that don't. We are a reflection of society. We have taken on the position that we have gone back, and just as Mr. Wilkins talked about in Maryland, we've gone back, and we have like almost a eight or nine-phase program where we've gone back and trained all 3,000 troopers and made a commitment to train all the new troopers coming in. We are truly interested in changing our organization but the thing---- Mrs. Maloney of New York. Are you trying to change attitudes? Mr. Dunbar. Oh, absolutely. Mrs. Maloney of New York. Because training is training. You do this, that, and the other, but are you also looking at attitudes. How is policing affecting attitudes? Mr. Dunbar. That is--it's one of those situations where you find someone who does something wrong, one of the things I have stressed since I've been on the job in Internal Affairs, and the basis there is if you're doing something wrong you're going to get punished, and my contention is that if people know they're going to be punished for doing something wrong---- Mrs. Maloney of New York. Some people may not think they're doing wrong. Mr. Dunbar. Well, whether you think or you don't think it doesn't make any difference because if you are doing it wrong, as I think was the case in Mr. Finnegan's situation, you're going to be found wrong by somebody, and that is part of changing the attitude, getting them to understand that what they were doing is not acceptable. Mrs. Maloney of New York. I will say that I have been stopped twice in my life, just I don't know why, and I guess just routinely to check if you have a license or a registration or your inspection card, and I gave it to them and I said thank you very much and I went on. So it's routine to stop people just to check if they have a license, I guess. Mr. Dunbar. Well, that's one of the things you can do, but the issue as you said, the issues of changing attitudes is no small, no small feat. In fact, I said in my opening statement that my philosophy is that if I can't change behavior I want to at least modify it. And you talked about violence toward women. If you take a look especially in New Jersey at what's happened with domestic violence laws, there's been a radical change from the seventies to where we are now, where it used to be no one ever got arrested. Now if there's a domestic incident in New Jersey, you're going to be arrested and there's a change of policy and a change of attitude. Mrs. Maloney of New York. I agree, it used to be you beat up a stranger on the street you get arrested and you beat up your wife and they say it's a domestic problem, and I applaud New Jersey and New York that have made tremendous strides in domestic violence and other areas, not enough, but tremendous strides. How has the early warning program worked in addressing the attitudes of the troops? You've started this early warning program. Could you talk about that a little? Mr. Dunbar. We have and we haven't. The early warning program is actually in the trial stage. It actually goes on- line the end of November. I think that is a key element that when you talk about changing the attitudes, you can see things where you get complaints about individuals. Even if you don't substantiate, if you get the similar complaint you need to look harder, and I think that's what the data collection issue goes to, that if you see a pattern where a person is just stopping certain people, stopping one sex as opposed to the other sex, you need to be able to look at that, and my only fear with data collection is that--as again as I said in my opening statement, is that there is a tendency to make data appear to serve whatever purpose and it really needs to be much more thought out that this is the number, this is the end. It truly is more complex and I mean, quite frankly, as I said before, I think Mr. Wilkins had it right when he said that it is at least a three-pronged data collection: Videos, attitudinal change, training and so on. Mrs. Maloney of New York. Well, my time is up. I want to thank all of you, and really request that you look at Ranking Member Cummings' legislation on racial profiling and give us any comments you may have. And I just want to close not only by thanking all of you for being really leaders in this field and trying to address it and make it better for all Americans, and I thank especially my colleague, Elijah Cummings, who has been working on this since we came back into session, working to get this hearing and working to move forward legislation. I want to comment on his extraordinary leadership. And thank you, Chris, for having the hearing, very, very much. Mr. Shays. Thank you. Mr. Burton, I know, has worked with Mr. Cummings, and we do want to thank Mr. Cummings for having this hearing. And, Mr. Barr, you have the floor. Mr. Barr. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Colonel Dunbar, what is the cost that you-all have occurred to install a camera in each cruiser? Mr. Dunbar. The immediate cost is approximately--this was just for the State police. The immediate cost was between $6 and $7 million. Mr. Barr. No. For each camera. Mr. Dunbar. For each---- Mr. Barr. What does it cost for each---- Mr. Dunbar. $3,000 per camera. Mr. Barr. $3,000. Is there any significant upkeep cost to it? Mr. Dunbar. Yes. We have to--not only the additional tapes that we buy, but then the storage of the tapes, we're committed to keeping them--I think it's for 60 months, if I'm not mistaken. We have a repair contract that costs us several hundred thousand dollars. We also have now had to create a unit to collect the tapes, store the tapes, make the tapes available for discovery. It is no cheap deal. The State of New Jersey, initially I had spoken to the former Governor, and a bill was passed for $10 million for local municipalities. But this is an area--and I will tell you, Mr. Barr, in talking to the other superintendents, this is an area that all of us would be very, very desirous of having some help from the Federal Government in the purchase of this equipment. Mr. Barr. Would you--and I know there are a lot of different needs that you all have, and we're all trying to do our best to help meet those needs within the balance of both our budgetary and jurisdictional concerns. Would you place this fairly high up on the priority list in terms of assistance that might be provided by the Congress? Mr. Dunbar. Yes. Yes, I would. And I'll tell you why. I don't think you had a chance to see the video but---- Mr. Barr. I did. Mr. Dunbar. OK. What's transpired is that we're receiving numerous false complaints, and they do a couple of things. They tie up my Internal Affairs investigators so we can't concentrate on the complaints that are there and that are valid. That's a downside. I think that this issue of racial profiling--in fact I call it biased-based policing as opposed to racial profiling, because it really goes beyond racial profiling. It's a national issue and it's something that's eroding confidence in the police, and we have to have that confidence back. And I just think that the video camera right now--while I don't believe in quick fixes, I think video cameras is in fact somewhat of a quick fix because it allows people like myself to really see what was going on. And I for one am not hesitant in disciplining my personnel if they're doing something wrong. I also want to stand by them if they're doing the right thing. And, you know, in my agency, there was resistance when we first fielded them. Now there are troopers who will not go out on patrol without them. And one of the things that we have done in our organization is that I have made it a paramount issue that manipulating that camera or playing with that camera will get you in serious trouble. But I think this is a major issue for--it's such--such a major issue that I went to our Governor, our former Governor, and asked her to give 24 of our vehicles to two of our cities that did not have them and couldn't afford them, just so they could see how good a tool they are. Mr. Barr. What has been the reaction from outside groups, some of the groups that the Senators in Texas have worked with? ACLU, the NAACP, other citizens groups, have they been supportive? Mr. Dunbar. We have not heard on the legal aspect of this, and there are some States that prevent you from doing recordings and so on. But by and large, I think that the ACLU and the NAACP are more concerned about the issues of profiling, and anything that can be done is looked upon favorably, and probably Mr. Wilkins would be in a better position to answer than I. Mr. Wilkins. Well, in Maryland we--``we'' meaning working with the ACLU and the NAACP--have asked as a remedy for a court order for videotapes to be placed in cars. And that's something where we agree with the Maryland State Police, not on the court order, but they want the videotapes as well. It's just a matter of cost for them. So it's something that we all agree would be beneficial. We are all on the same page there. Mr. Barr. In terms of protecting the privacy of the individuals, do you have a mechanism in place? Obviously every person that's stopped isn't cited, every person isn't arrested; yet there is a record of them having been stopped. What mechanism do you have in place to protect the privacy of the individuals? Mr. Dunbar. Well, you want to have a record, I think, of the stop, and you want to have the most complete record of the stop. We don't release the tapes. There is some issue that, you know, for example, I think Pennsylvania is one of those States where you're not allowed to record an individual without their consent. We don't have that problem in New Jersey. As long as the trooper's there, there is no expectation of privacy. We have also explored the possibility of actually putting up signs on the interstates that--similar to radar being used-- cars use videotapes. And the reason we want to do that is we want people to know that they are in fact being videotaped. I just think that we live in a very aggressive--one of the things that review--and I review a lot of tapes, and one of the things that I've seen is that we live in a very aggressive society. We have road rage. We have a bunch of individuals that are very, very impatient. And I think that the public, knowing that their actions are going to be recorded, will possibly dissipate bad behavior on both parts. But as far as privacy issues, we've not really run into any of them. Mr. Barr. If I could, Mr. Chairman, ask the two Senators from Texas that same question in terms of protecting the privacy of individuals who might, or whose car might appear on those tapes. Obviously if they're used in a court proceeding, the information has to be disclosed; but for other purposes, is there a mechanism in place in Texas to protect the privacy of these tapes and the information on them? Mr. West. The issue of privacy never came up during our deliberation, Mr. Barr. I believe that from a constitutional standpoint, at least from my study of the criminal law, that when you're driving a vehicle, it's a privilege, No. 1; and, No. 2, when you're driving on the highways and byways of a State of this country, that you give up a certain amount of privacy as it relates to your operation of that motor vehicle-- -- Mr. Barr. I'm really talking about dissemination of the tapes. For example, I don't know what the statistics would be, but as I mentioned before, every car that's stopped does not result in an arrest or citation. I presume most of them do because the reason they're being stopped is because there's probable cause that the officer presumably can establish. But if you have an individual, and for purposes of court proceedings that tape is never introduced in evidence, it's not used in a court proceeding, can the public have access to those, or somebody that just might have some interest in saying, hey, I'd like to see who was stopped out there and try to make an issue out of it? Mr. West. In our bill we did a couple of things. No. 1, as it relates to the tape itself, it's on file for 90 days. I believe that it is in fact subject to public disclosure, whether it's the person that's driving the car, or--not as a result of the police officer stopping the car--as a result of constitutional law where you have to give up a certain amount of freedom in order to exercise that particular privilege, that it would in fact be subject to an open records request. Mr. Dunbar. Mr. Barr---- Mr. Barr. That's interesting. Yes, sir. Mr. Dunbar. In New Jersey, for example, the tape we showed here today, even though this case has gone to court and there was a guilty plea, we still had to get a legal opinion. We took out the license plate and we took out all references to the individual. We will not give out these tapes to anyone unless there's a court proceeding and we're directed to give them up. It is just our policy that they're like our records. We won't make them available to anyone unless there's a specific legal request. We consider that--we consider that the same as one of our reports. They're just not given out. Mr. Barr. Thank you. Mr. Duncan. I would like to comment. I think that it makes sense to have some sort of a privacy policy in there, because obviously if you create a governmental record that would be subject to open records. At least in Texas I think it might be. And, you know, I think that you can--we probably should have looked at that, or should look at that at some point in time, because I think it is an important issue when you're preserving these records. Although they may be important records later down the road to where you have to have some access to them or the public needs some access. I don't know how to balance that, but I do think that you raise an important issue. Mr. Dunbar. Mr. Barr, one other issue that I don't know whether Texas has thought about this yet, and that's the fact that I think our time period that we keep them is 60 months, and I know it may be 30, but it's based on what our civil--if you file a civil suit, plus 6 months, because what's going to happen is if you have those records, and a year later Mr. Wilkins decides to sue, and you've destroyed the records, that's going to be very problematic. So from the very beginning we tied it to 6 months--6 months--30 months I think from the time of the incident, and it goes 6 months beyond. So if you filed at the 24th month, we would still have 6 months that we would retain that. We want to have the ability to produce that because, if we don't produce it, there's going to be a question of what happened to it. So your 90-day--unless your civil claim is 90 days, it's going to be problematic for you. Mr. Barr. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Shays [presiding]. I thank the gentleman. And now Mr. Cummings, the gentleman who's responsible for all of you being here. Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much. And to the gentlemen, I want to thank you for your testimony. I want to apologize. We have a catastrophe in Baltimore, in my district, literally about 8 blocks from my house. So I've been kind of running in and out trying to deal with that, with the train derailment. So I apologize. The timing is just not good. I just wanted--to you, Mr. Royce, and to you, Mr. Robert. You know, one of the things that I'm noticing, and a little bit earlier Mr. Waxman talked about--I think it was Mr. Waxman--talked about this study that was done and how Whites perceive the problem and how Blacks perceive the problem. I mean when I go into my district and I talk to women--and particularly, believe it or not, women seem to be as much or more sensitive to this problem than a lot of men. And the reason why they're so concerned about it is because it's their sons, a lot of women concerned about their sons and their husbands being profiled. So how did you raise it to a level where people didn't play games with the legislation, but actually said, wait a minute, we do have a problem? And just because people realize they have a problem doesn't mean they're going to deal with it, as you know, from any kind of--being in the State legislature. So how did you get it to that point where people felt, you know, yeah, we do have a problem and need to do something about this? Mr. West. Mr. Cummings, as I stated earlier, this legislative session--and I think Senator Duncan would agree with me--was pretty strange in Texas. We dealt with a lot of civil and individual rights issues. There was actually bipartisan support for it and passed. In terms of the issue of racial profiling, it was brought up last legislative session, but no significant action was taken. What we did this time around was to bring in the NAACP, who initially raised the issue with me, and the American Civil Liberties Union and La Raza and MALDAF, those types of organizations, with law enforcement. And the first question I asked them, I said, is there anyone in this room that does not believe that racial profiling is an issue in the State of Texas? I said, if so, raise your hand. No one raised their hand. I said, well, we don't have to dwell on whether it's a problem. Let's now dwell on a solution to the problem. And so that's the way we started the process of coming up with something that we believe can help address the issue. Mr. Duncan. I will comment that Senator West can be very persuasive, too, and he did challenge me to go with him---- Mr. Cummings. I'm sorry. I meant to say--I've got to put glasses on for one thing. I'm sorry, Senator West. I said Senator Royce. I apologize. Mr. Duncan. I was going to say that Senator West had challenged me on several occasions. He and I worked on several issues together over the years, and he said, I want you to grow a beard--I can't grow a beard, for one--but grow a beard and we'll go dress in jeans and go walk out on the streets of Dallas and see how we're treated, and I want you to see firsthand. We didn't do that, because I got to thinking about that might not be a good idea, but I think he did personalize the issue with me, and I think we have to do it as policymakers, try to walk a mile in those shoes. And I think that's the role that Senator West played in this issue. Mr. Cummings. The reason I asked you all this question is because you are from Texas, a southern State, and be able to-- and I served in the Maryland Legislature for 15 years and it just seems like, you know, there are a lot of issues that we grapple with, but we never could get them to a point where we had effective legislation. We have it now, but--and I don't know if it's as detailed as this legislation that you all have. So you're to be congratulated. Mr. Wilkins, I'm pretty familiar with your case, being from Maryland. The--you think the cameras would have made a big difference in your situation? Mr. Wilkins. I think that they would have made a difference in--because the trooper--the report that he wrote up after he found out that we were going to file a lawsuit, he was very careful to make it appear that, one, we were more suspicious than we were by saying that instead of coming from a funeral in Chicago and returning to the D.C. area, that we were traveling from Pittsburgh to Baltimore, but yet we had a Virginia rental car--which was not true--and he didn't say anything about the funeral. He also, all of a sudden, I guess, was very concerned about our rights, because he wrote in his report that he told us that we had a right not to sign the consent form. Yet he was the same trooper who said if we didn't sign the form, then we must have something to hide. And he said that we agreed to wait for the dog, which was going to raise an issue in court as to whether we were really detained because, if we had agreed and in effect consented to wait for the dog, then he could argue and the State could argue that there wasn't a detention. And so there were all of those issues that we were very concerned that we were going to have to fight about. But I can promise you, if there had been a videotape, there wouldn't have been a fight at all. Fortunately, we were able to settle the case on favorable terms but, you know, a videotape would have helped. Mr. Cummings. To all of you--and you all may have answered this question already--but, you know, we're always trying to figure out what it is that we can do to be helpful to States and what makes sense. Sometimes I think the Federal Government does a little bit too much intruding, but I'm just wondering what, if you all could--I mean if there's things we could do to help you do your job, what would it be to get this done; I mean to further what you're trying to accomplish? Mr. West. Thank you for asking the question. I think it's very critical, and Mr. Barr asked the question about the cost of video cameras, and Colonel Dunbar indicated what the cost is for the great State that he represents. Needless to say, Texas has over 20 million people. I firmly believe that Congress should take the lead, working closely with the State and also with local units of government, be they parishes, counties, or cities, in funding a process where we put in place video cameras; video and audio in all police vehicles--that are used for traffic purposes in this country. I think that it has several positives, many of which have been noted here today. No. 1, it protects the citizen, it protects the police officer, it provides evidence of any criminal wrongdoing that subsequently can be utilized in a court of law if necessary. But in most instances, if you have a smoking gun videotape, then what you're going to have is less need for police officers to take time off of the street and spend time down at the courthouse, as well as prosecutorial costs related to it; which we can't measure now because we hadn't tried this before. I think that it is very important that Congress uses its vast resources and influence through purse strings to put in place the requirement that we have educational programs geared toward what racial profiling is, that we look at adopting the Department, the Justice Department definition--which Texas has done--in reference to racial profiling throughout this State; and that we have funds--obviously you send funds to the State-- that you require States to have training programs that include racial profiling; and, in addition, through your funding mechanism, require States to require units of government to adopt policies concerning racial profiling. Mr. Cummings. Anybody else? Mr. Dunbar. I just want to echo what he just said. I think that, as was testified this morning, last year they gave $12 million to video cameras from the COPS program. This year I think the budget was $3 million. This is a time for increases, not decreases. The other thing that I just want to briefly mention is there's a variety of both State and I think Federal proposed bills on racial profiling. And one of the things that--as the head of a State police organization, one of the things that I found very problematic is proving intent. And the issue of intent is going to be one--if these bills are passed, I think it's going to be very difficult to prove. But yet, again, what Mr. Wilkins said with video cameras. For example, if you have documentation that does not coincide with what you have in your video camera--and in New Jersey what we have been doing is we have been going after the administrative violations or false reports and so on, and that is a way I think that you can document misdeeds. And if racial profiling bills get passed, I think the next struggle you're going to see is, you know, how do you prove intent? And that's a question that I'm asked every single day by the media, you know; what about this case, what about that case? And that is going to be a challenge, and I think that it really needs to be looked at. What is it that we're going to look for? What is going-- what is it--you know, how do you get in the mind of an individual? We discussed earlier about attitudes. How do you get to what that person is thinking? And this morning you started off in your statement talking about the issues that we're discussing, going back hundreds of years, and I think what you said this morning is right on the mark. And to me the issue of racial profiling becomes an issue of race in America and our struggle to appropriately deal with it, and I think law enforcement is making an honest effort. We need help financially, and you know, dare I say, we need some time to try to change things, because I think things are changing. Mr. Cummings. You know, I see my time is up. It's so interesting when we talk about the perceptions of how some White people look at racial profiling and maybe African Americans or Hispanics may look at it. But, you know, as an African American man, I can tell you that you begin to live your life with an extra bit of caution. I mean if you talk to most Black men, they will tell you that they make sure that their lights are fixed on their cars, they make sure that no tags are hanging down, they make sure that everything is in place, because we don't want to be stopped and because we're afraid of what's going to happen. And as I practiced law for 15 years, I saw so many instances of where a little incident like a stop resulted in three or four or five charges: assault against the police officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest. That's the trilogy normally. Mr. West. That's right. Mr. Cummings. And so somebody has a record and they have a record until they die, usually. So I just want to thank you all. You've been here a long time. Ms. Norton, I didn't know whether--but I just want to thank you all. Because being Black in America and being male is not easy, and I don't mind saying it to anybody. Even as a Congressman, it's not easy. And we're seeing our jails being filled with African American men and women now at a phenomenal rate, disproportionate rate. And I just think that the things that you all--Senator West and Senator Duncan and, you, Colonel Dunbar and, you, Mr. Wilkins, and, you, Mr. Finnegan, all of you, you're doing something to touch the future. And the things you're trying to do is prevent some things from happening in the future. And I think that if all of us just looked at--every time I go to an elementary school--and I'll be finished with this, Mr. Barr. Every time I go to an elementary school, I look at those little kids in my district, and then I ride about five or six blocks away and I see new jails being built, and I know that those jails are being built for them, and it breaks your heart, and so--but hopefully, the kinds of things we're talking about today will allow those people to do the things that was intended for them by God, so that they can grow up and sit at a table, like you, and be productive. And I just wanted to put your testimony in some kind of a context, and what you're doing in context, and to thank you for them. I really do thank you. Mr. Barr. I thank the gentleman from Maryland. Mr. Finnegan, if you would, please describe for us or summarize for us the laws that were available that you were able to use successfully in your case to obtain relief for your clients in Ohio. Mr. Finnegan. The law--there were no specific laws. The basic was a straight 1983 action for a constitutional violation under the fourth amendment for improper search and seizure; and under the equal protection clause, questioning people based solely on their appearance and race. We also used Title 6 because, of course, the Highway Patrol gets--it was about $3 million a year from the Federal Government to do this racial profiling. And Title 6 survived summary judgment. It's not up in front of the Sixth Circuit right now on appeal, like the constitutional issues are, but the judge did find that Federal money was being used to do this. Recently Title 6 took a hit with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that there's no private cause of action under Title 6, which very well may throw out a large part of our case. And one thing I'd like to urge, I guess--I don't know if this committee has jurisdiction--that Congress take a close look at Title 6 because I think Congress intended that when Mr. Wilkins had his rights violated by the State police, that he would have a private cause of action to go in against the State police; and that when my clients and the Farm Workers Union were violated by Ohio, that they would have a right. That just went away, I think, under the Supreme Court decision of Sandoval v. Alabama, and we would sure like to see Congress go back in there and say, we mean for individuals whose rights are violated to have the right to go to court. Not just the U.S. Department of Justice, because I think, as we've all seen today in the first round of testimony, the Department of Justice has a lot on their plate. And for them to prosecute on behalf of Mr. Wilkins and to prosecute in Ohio on behalf of the Farm Worker Union takes us out of the equation. And there's a lot we can get done as long as Congress give us a private cause of action. But those were the two laws that we used primarily, and they're all alive in front of the Sixth Circuit right now. Mr. Barr. Thank you. Colonel Dunbar and Senators West and Duncan, what's been you-all's experience with regard to the reaction of your State prosecutors? Have they been supportive in the use of cameras in cases? Mr. West. Do you want to go first? Mr. Dunbar. I live in Bergen County and I prosecuted Erol Lexis so much that he's taking his forfeiture funds and trying to buy cameras for all the local police departments. I think everybody likes to have best evidence, and if you can come into court and you can show what you're doing, I think it makes the landscape much clearer. We've gone through so much turmoil in the last 3 years because of the issue of racial profiling. I think that any workable solution is something that people are willing to try. We have 21 counties. I don't know of any county prosecutor that has raised any objection to the use of video cameras. I think that there are going to be legal challenges because some of the things we're running into is when we have malfunctions in the equipment, valid malfunctions, when the microphone inadvertently gets shut off, and that is also going to be a challenge for us, is trying to determine whether it's a real malfunction or not a malfunction. But the concept has been, I think, universally accepted not only by the county prosecutors. In fact I don't think I've heard anything negative after the first year when the police officers resisted, and since then-- this still sells. I mean nothing's ever 100 percent, but there are still some people that are going to resist it, but I think everybody pretty much has learned to live with it. Mr. Barr. And has that been a similar experience for you- all in Texas? Mr. West. Yes. And I think, Mr. Barr, you have to look at most of the COPS money that's been coming to the States has been used to purchase cameras for the DWI squads, and needless to say, it's been very effective in recording drunk drivers on the road. So prosecutors are just kind of chomping at the bit, so to speak, to be able to get this type of tool for prosecutorial purposes. Mr. Barr. Colonel Dunbar, are you aware of any incidents in which State troopers in New Jersey were accused of racial profiling or other inappropriate behavior and those charges were substantiated by the audio-visual evidence? Mr. Dunbar. No. However, through our own review of tapes, internal review, we have developed, I'm trying to think--a number of--a handful of tapes that reflect problematic behavior. But as far as just responding to complaints, no. In fact, most of it's going the opposite way. Mr. Barr, one of the things we have found--and this isn't necessarily racial profiling--one of the things we have found is just rudeness on the part of the police officer, and I think that also feeds into the issue of--it's how you're treated, and that also--we found that, and we have taken disciplinary action cases like that. Mr. Barr. Thank you. Have there been any problems with the--are you-all's officers unionized or from any of the police---- Mr. Dunbar. Can you do something about unions? Mr. Barr. Police unions, the---- Mr. Dunbar. Yeah. Mr. Barr. Have they had any problems with the use of the cameras? Mr. Dunbar. In speaking to counsel for the committee, the president of our State Troopers Fraternal Association was willing to come and testify today on behalf of the cameras. And again they see the same thing that--the issue has been raised. We now need to have a third person present to speak for the trooper or the complainant. And again, in the last 2 years it's been a turnaround on the unions where they are now very support--they've seen over the last 2 years that this tool-- they labeled it Big Brother when it first came out, and what you have to understand in New Jersey it was--we got it. It wasn't because we were like real forward looking. It was kind of forced on us. We had some problems. And troopers thought it was being forced on them. Now I don't think that's the case, and we have three unions in the State police and all three of them support them. Mr. Barr. Thank you. The gentlelady from the District of Columbia is recognized for 10 minutes. Ms. Norton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me, Mr. Finnegan, let me say to all four of you that I apologize I wasn't here to hear all of your testimony, and I'm briefed on it by my staff. It does seem to me it was all very valuable testimony. Mr. Finnegan, I appreciate what you had to say about the Sandoval case. That was an English-only case, English-only for driver's license case. And the Supreme Court said that the essential distinguishing point, I think, to your case is that they said that the English-only driver license did not involve deliberate discrimination. It does seem--and, of course, Title 6 does cover deliberate discrimination. It does seem that racial profiling is inherently deliberate discrimination. You have to have a thought in your head that I want that man because that man is Hispanic, or that woman is Black. So I hope you're home free. I'm not certain. We'll see. Mr. Wilkins, I must express my gratitude to you again that you have made yourself available for what is perhaps the most instructive case ever to have been filed about racial profiling. I'm not sure what we would have done without not only your case but your ability in official and unofficial hearings--because you have come to the Congress on numerous occasions to educate us--but your ability to lay out the facts and what law applied. And it has been very valuable to have had a talented young lawyer to testify. It cannot have been very valuable to have been that talented young lawyer, however. And I do want to say that in thinking through my own bill, which of course is based essentially on the spending authority, to say if you spend our money you can't use it in a discriminatory way--and other approaches, because there's another very important bill that's been filed, the Conyers bill. I believe both approaches are very important. I believe that it is very important that someone like Mr. Wilkins always be able to pursue his rights and that there be a statutory basis to do that. But the fact is that Mr. Wilkins is a Harvard-educated lawyer. And when you consider how pervasive racial profiling is, it does seem to me that we're barking up a very slow-moving vehicle if we believe that case-by-case is going to do it. Indeed, Maryland can't boast now, even given the Wilkins case, that it's a model jurisdiction, even though his case alone--because he was so principled--succeeded in getting structural change in that State. So I am interested in a proactive approach. See, there are two approaches here. One is preventative. There's always two approaches in law enforcement. One is preventative and one is remedial. Now, Mr. Wilkins was forced into a remedial context, the lawsuit approach. And we'll try to get a bill here that would give the next Mr. Wilkins all the tools he needs to pursue his rights. Lawsuit approach, adversarial case-by-case, essentially the officer is put on trial, and the city, the State, or the county is put on trial. And, you know, if you've got the upfront money and the lawyer is willing to do it on a contingent fee basis and the whole works, you may prevail. It is very important. I am the former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, so I very much favor precisely that approach. Indeed I wish Title 6 would have been used the way Title 7 had been used. We would be nowhere in this country if private attorneys hadn't brought case after case under Title 7 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to help rid the country of racial discrimination. So obviously, I think that these are two valued approaches but that, particularly given the fact that racial profiling may well be more likely to occur in poor African American neighborhoods, that it would be a shame if we were only left with a case-by-case adversarial approach. I'd like to ask you all a set of a questions, beginning with Mr. Dunbar. Mr. Dunbar, I was very concerned because perhaps the highest profile State of them all has been New Jersey, that yesterday in the New Jersey Star Ledger was a report that 90 percent of the people--I'm not sure if this has been brought out, I haven't been here, but that 90 percent of the people who consented to searches and stops in New Jersey are members of handpicked---- Mr. Dunbar. Members of---- Ms. Norton [continuing]. And racial minority groups. Mr. Dunbar. I didn't know if it was 90 percent. I think it was around 80 percent. Ms. Norton. Well, I'm quoting from the New Jersey Star Ledger, and it's yesterday--it's a site that we got out of-- from yesterday. I'd just like to ask you if that surprises you and whether you think it makes a comment on the effectiveness of whatever it is you are doing now. Mr. Dunbar. Does it surprise me? No. I've said all along-- while you were out, we were talking about changing attitudes. Changing attitudes is something that does not happen overnight. I think that--and this is one of the things that--one of the things that article does not talk about. It does not talk about the reduction in the number of consent searches that take place, for example, this year. Ms. Norton. Why has there been a reduction? Mr. Dunbar. Why has there been a reduction? Ms. Norton. Yeah. Mr. Dunbar. Because we've gone back and we've changed attitudes. You know, we ask questions. If, you know, you make a stop and the person produces license, registration, and insurance card, why are you asking questions beyond that? But the numbers have come down, and I think the numbers will continue to come down. In New Jersey, I think 4 months after I took my job, the issue was, you know, was everything resolved? And I don't think it's going to happen in a matter of a months and it may not happen in a matter of years. Ms. Norton. Could I ask all four of you a question? I need to be informed about the possible effectiveness, or not, of the approach I'm pursuing, and I'd like from the--in the context where all of you operate, I'd like your response to the following question: Do you think it would help law enforcement in this field, help those who are trying to do the right thing, the way Mr. Dunbar is, help get compliance the way Mr. Wilkins has had to do through a lawsuit, if in fact the head of the State police or the police chief in a given area were to have in his arsenal a bill which would essentially deny his jurisdiction of coveted highway money if in fact the jurisdiction did not have enforceable legislation and did not pursue it such that the practice began to diminish? Would it make a difference? Or perhaps is the threat of a lawsuit what will make the greatest difference because people just don't want to be sued? Now, either way, you pay money perhaps. You pay money on the lawsuit and perhaps it has a deterrent effect. You might have to pay money and lose money if you don't have an enforceable policy to bring down racial profiling. Do you think it would have an effect on the practice and on how law enforcement went at eliminating the practice to have this preventative approach in the arsenal of strategies to use against the practice? In any order you'd like to speak. Mr. Finnegan. Well, I'd like to start out that the traffic--the series of traffic stops that set off our lawsuit in Ohio occurred in early and middle 1995, and we've been litigating ever since and we've been winning ever since. But the State of Ohio hasn't change one bit in its practices about questioning people because of the color of their skin. So a lawsuit--and in fact I think some of the State--some State officials have actually scored points in the more conservative parts of the State by standing up for tough law enforcement. Even if a few thousand minorities get questioned and held up, you know, it's good to be tough on crime right now. I think the taxpayers of Ohio would really be upset if we lost any highway money because that's a constant grumble, that the highways need to be improved. That would get people's attention a lot faster than this kind of obscure lawsuit that's been cooking away in Toledo for 5 years. So I think every weapon--we've been at it for 5 years and there's no end in sight for our lawsuit. And I know from talking to Mr. Wilkins, he's back to round two in his case. The lawsuits are important, and Title 6 is important, but Title 6 is important specifically because Federal funding is threatened. And in our lawsuit the traffic and drug interdiction team was almost all Federal money. The Drug Enforcement Agency that started the Highway Patrol on questioning on immigration was almost all Federal money, and almost all the immigration detentions had been Federal money. So until the Federal Government gets on the ball, I think things aren't going to change in Ohio. Mr. Wilkins. I'd like to echo that and also note that the new lawsuit that we filed in Maryland, because there were continuing problems on I-95, there is a Title 6 claim which is now at risk with Sandoval because the disparate impact portion of that claim is likely to be dismissed because of that decision and therefore we'll be forced to try to prove discriminatory intent, which is more difficult. And I would say as well that, you know, we've been litigating this and it's been 9 years since my stop, and I was young and single and in shape now, and now I'm old and out of shape and have two kids and married, and so this has been going on for a long time. And we only got $50,000 in damages for the four of us, along with about another $46,000 in attorneys' fees for all of the work that we did up until the time that we settled the case. And so money was never going to be something that was going to be a deterrent and to the State of Maryland, at least the money that they were risking in our lawsuit. And I think that what you're doing is very important. Mr. West. I concur. We need to make sure that we tie these Federal dollars in terms of the dollars that the States are getting to some sort of policy that, needless to say, you want to see implemented. I know that in Texas we've taken some steps toward dealing with issues of racial profiling. I believe that it's something we need to do across this country. Mr. Duncan. I'll take a little different approach. I will note that--I'm always concerned when we create new remedies through the civil court system. I think, as Mr. Finnegan said, there are laws in place. I think they're filing suits and they're winning. I would hate to see us change those laws. I think those laws work and they're carefully balanced, and I don't know that's necessarily the way to approach it. The other end of it is--and, you know, I guess--I serve on the finance committee, and Senator West has as well in the Texas Senate, and, you know, I'd rather have incentives that are proactive. Texas, which is considered to be the bastian of conservatism in the South, has enacted a very aggressive bill. We did it on our own. We didn't do it because of any threat from Congress to cutoff our highway funds. We did it on our own, and I think that we would like to do more with regard to video cameras. We need help with training. I think some of the things that Colonel Dunbar has raised, and I think Mr. Finnegan as well as Mr. Wilkins, I think all of these issues that they have raised have really gone to the core of training and attitude changes that need to occur from the top down. The bill that Senator West passed, Senate bill 1074, has significant training requirements, and it also does something very important. It requires each local law enforcement agency in Texas to have a policy on racial profiling to address it at that grassroots level. I had preferred to see the States work as laboratories with assistance from the Federal Government in the form of incentives because there are a lot of issues like racial profiling and other issues that I think are important that we address, and I think Texas is a good example of how it can be done without the threat of pulling highway funds which are, you know, very important to all of our States. Thank you. Mr. Shays [presiding]. Would the gentlelady yield just a second to point out to Mr. Duncan that you Texans are amazing. Did you say to me you're the bastian of conservatism of the South? There are about eight other States that would probably want to contest that. Mr. Duncan. Well, we might want to team up with them and have a co-title here. Mr. Shays. I just couldn't resist. You guys are awesome. Excuse me for interrupting. Ms. Norton. Well, I thank the gentleman for his intervention. Let me add that I want to congratulate the State of Texas for its forward leadership, and I suppose that I live in a country which does not make my civil rights dependent upon what State I happen to be in. At the time that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, New York already had a very strong civil rights law, but if I traveled to Texas I would have encountered overt intentional racial discrimination. So, to give you another example, I come out of the civil rights movement, where if I got on a train from New York to Washington, I sat anywhere I wanted to. I'm a fourth-generation Washingtonian. If I went to see my grandfather in North Carolina, I had to change my seat. I thought we were long past--we bow to States' rights in this place, but I thought we were long past the point where we would make anybody's human rights contingent upon the State that person happened to be in. The whole notion that I could have my rights in Texas, and get to Louisiana and lose them, ought now be a thing of the past. And I think none of us would--you have to forgive me, but that's such a throwback. I accept it with respect to almost everything else. Let the States be the States. Let them blossom. Please don't let racism and discrimination blossom State by State. Mr. Dunbar. Mr. Dunbar. You know, in New Jersey, much of what's been done was done as a result of the Attorney General's review of the State police, but it was also in concert with the discussion with the Department of Justice in which we entered into a consent decree back in 1999 which gave us specific things that we have to change. What my concern is, is that--and this goes back to the discussion of data collection and so on--is that, you know, what happens? For example, if we have 100 searches and 4 are problematic, that's 4 percent; if we have 10 searches and 4 are problematic, that's 40 percent. Those are the type of issues that I have concerns with, that when you--you know, when you're talking about, you know, enacting a bill, what's going to be in that bill, you talked about--and I certainly agree with you, and in fact I wouldn't have taken this job if I didn't agree with you--that change has to take place, but at the same time you asked me before about what has changed. I think there's a number of things that have changed. Percentages have not changed. The numbers have changed. You know, I often say when I talk to my troopers, I say that if we had one racial profiling case, how can I go out and say we don't have a problem? I mean that's the bottom line. And that's the exact terminology that I use every single time. If it happens one time, it's too much. But at the same time, you know, as a law enforcement officer--and I really can't overemphasize. I think that other law enforcement leaders, most of the ones that I discuss with, the two issues they come up with are racial profiling and unions and difficulties with both of them. I would like to be able to sit here and have you say that, you know, everything we're doing is great. If you look at--you know, if you took that article and you made reference to that, in that same article there were comments made by the Department of Justice, independent monitored, which has reviewed every single thing that we do from top to bottom, and they've indicated we've made significant strides and changes. But what we focus on is not what's been done or being done, it's what's not done. And I really can't dispute that the issues are there, but there is a genuine effort, I think, on the part of the local legislation in New Jersey and on the part of the Governors and certainly the Attorney General to bring about change. Do I think that money would get attention? Yeah, probably it would. But I would just ask if we're going to do something, let's look at, you know, what is it that we're going to do and what is the impact? Are we going to just use an arbitrary number? You know, how do you say, for example, in racial profiling that if you've got a department that has two cases, that's OK? Ms. Norton. Well, my bill would not use any numbers. It simply would require enforcement and require you to have an enforceable law and say what the law is. So I agree that the circumstances differ. Let me finally say that one of the things, it seems to me, to consider in adopting a proactive approach is that it is probably always better to prevent discrimination than to remediate it. There's a lot of hard feelings and a lot of bitterness. Bitterness on the person who believes he experienced it; great bitterness on the part of the person who stands accused. Because even those who engage in it today don't like to be fingered for doing it. I also believe that many of the police involved are not to blame. I believe that there is a kind of imperative that police consciously and unconsciously feel, and that whether it is Mr. Dunbar or the chain of command below him--and I know how difficult it is to make police focus on something like this when there's so many law enforcement matters to focus on. But the fact is that one way to get management to take its responsibility seriously, not focusing on cop by cop, who often is not the problem, but on the folks who have the most to lose, the Governor who would lose State funding, who the Governor appointments who could be held accountable, one might get a rise out of States which have had trouble. I don't know if you would except by the precedent. The precedent is that we have had enormous success by tying transportation funds to stated policy objectives that we care about. A second reason why I press this approach is what you've heard from our two litigators. In this Congress litigiousness is the enemy. There are Members who would prefer to jump out of one of the windows of the Rayburn Building than to be involved in a lawsuit; who believe that lawsuits are absolutely a waste of money, if not inherently evil; crowd the courts; people running after one another, blaming one another; why don't they work things out? It seems to me if you start from the beginning with a strong proactive remedy, you eliminate the cop problem, you eliminate the money problem, you eliminate the hard feelings problem, and you eliminate one of the great problems of this society, and that is that African Americans still feel very put upon in this society. There is a huge racial divide in this society, 35 years after I was a kid in the civil rights movement. If you ask the average African American, do you feel there is discrimination in this country, he'll say ``you bet 'ya.'' and that's notwithstanding the enormous strides we've made. Why is he still saying that? As long as you can be stopped on the street based on the color of your skin, nothing the society does will matter to average Black man. There is nothing that is a great--that is--gives you a greater sense of indignity than having a policeman stop you and having to say, what did I do? For a lot of reasons, not the least of which we need to begin to heal the racial divide in this town. I certainly hope that the testimony of all five of you will in fact help us to begin to march down that road toward the finish. I thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Shays. I thank the gentlelady. She obviously speaks with much experience. We thank all the panel. And I'm not asking to extend this panel, because I know you've gone longer than you expected, but is there any one last short comment that any one of you want to make or feel you need to make? Mr. Dunbar. Send money. Mr. Shays. That is short. Gentlemen, you're an excellent panel. I congratulate the staffs for putting this panel together, and I apologize to the next staff for keeping them waiting so long. Mr. Dunbar. Thank you. Mr. Burton [presiding]. We'll now welcome our third panel to the witness table: Rachel King, Raymond Kelly, Lieutenant Brian Boykin, and Chris Maloney, would you please come forward, please. [Witnesses sworn.] Mr. Burton. Be seated. Ms. King, do you have an opening statement you'd like to make? STATEMENTS OF RACHEL KING, LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION; RAYMOND KELLY, FORMER COMMISSIONER, U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE; BRIAN BOYKIN, FELLOW, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECUTIVES; AND CHRIS MALONEY, PRESIDENT, TRITECH SYSTEMS, INC. Ms. King. Yes, sir. I thank you very much for inviting me to testify today. I have prepared a written statement which I submitted already, so I'll be very brief and just basically make two points. While we believe that the use of video cameras and audio- visual technology is very important and a very useful law enforcement tool, it cannot in and of itself be used to address the problem of racial profiling. It needs to be used in conjunction with other programs, specifically data collection programs. And the second point I'd like to make is that the Federal Government needs to intervene to help the States in addressing this problem. I'd like to just tell you a story that illustrates how video cameras are not the absolute solution to the problem of racial profiling. The ACLU represented a client named Sergeant Joe Rossario, who's a Black man who was traveling across the country with his 12-year-old son. When he entered the State of Oklahoma, within a half hour of entering the State he was stopped two different times, the second time by two troopers who were driving patrol vehicles. Each vehicle had a video camera. In spite of the presence of these video cameras, this is what happened to Mr. Rosaria. He was detained for over 2 hours. His car was searched without his consent. His son was kept separate from him and terrorized by the police dog. They were kept in patrol vehicles with the heat blasting even though it was 90 degrees outside. Their possessions were strewn along the side of the road and gone over by a drug-sniffing dog, and their car was dismantled, looking for drugs. Obviously having video cameras in those patrol vehicles did not keep two people, innocent people, from having their constitutional rights violated. One of the video cameras, according to one of the troopers, was malfunctioning, and the other one was functioning, but they could not find the tape. So there was virtually almost no recording of the incident. You will see that with video cameras there are limitations in that there can be malfunctions, tapes can be lost, and cameras can be tampered with; but an even more important limitation of the camera is they can give you a snapshot in time about one stop and search, but they cannot give you an overall picture of what's happening in the community around the issue of racial profiling, and that's why you need to have data collection as well. Video cameras are a good supplement to data collection because they can be used, for example, to audit any data collection programs to make sure there's accuracy in the data collection efforts, and they can also be used for training for police officers and conducting proper traffic stops. I know of no State that is using video cameras at the present time as exclusively in addressing a racial profiling. If you look at my written statement, I've attached on the back of it a map of the United States that shows the various jurisdictions which are using data collection programs. There are a number of States that are using both data collection and video cameras. Those include New Jersey, Missouri and North Carolina. Texas, as we heard, passed legislation that would require both video cameras and data collection, and Indiana and Minnesota are also both considering legislation that would require both video cameras and data collection. While we support all these State efforts, we still believe that Federal support and intervention is necessary, and that's why we support H.R. 2074, which is a comprehensive bill to ban racial profiling. We'd like to specifically thank members of this committee who are sponsors of that bill, notably Congresswomen Morella and Norton, and Congressmen Shays, Cummings, Davis, Clay and Owens. We'd like to thank them very much for their support of this important legislation. This bill does several important things that are needed to address the problem of racial profiling. First of all, it defines racial profiling. We have to have a Federal definition of racial profiling. We can't have racial profiling be one thing in Arkansas and something else in Oklahoma. People who are traveling across the country need to know what the law is. It bans racial profiling and makes it clear that it is illegal. Until very recently the Federal Government has actually trained law enforcement officers in the use of racial profiling as a legitimate law enforcement technique, and the government needs to make it clear that it's no longer a legitimate technique. The bill also provides a carrot-and-stick approach to requiring States and localities to adopt programs to address racial profiling by both withholding Federal funds if States are not in compliance, but also giving important grant money that's necessary that the States need to establish data collection programs and other types of best practices programs, including video cameras in the cars. And last it requires the Attorney General to report to Congress on the state of racial profiling in the country. I'd just like to finish with one remark about the privacy concerns. The ACLU, as you know, is very concerned about individual privacy rights, but in this case we think in general the benefits of video cameras outweigh the individual privacy concerns; however, we do not believe that these video tapes should be publicly released except, of course, in criminal and civil litigation. There may be times that a very compelling public interest outweighs the privacy of the individual, for example in the Rodney King beating, but in no way should they be released without first going forward and having that determination made by a court. I'd be happy to answer any questions later. Thank you. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Ms. King. [The prepared statement of Ms. King follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.056 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.057 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.058 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.059 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.060 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.061 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.062 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.063 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.064 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.065 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.066 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.067 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.068 Mr. Burton. Mr. Kelly, do you have a statement, sir? And thank you for being on our third panel. I know that there was some question about whether or not you would prefer to be on the first panel, but I guess everything worked out. Mr. Kelly. Yes, thank you. Thank you for the invitation to be here today, Mr. Chairman. Although I know the title of today's hearing is the Benefits of Audio-Visual Technology in Addressing Racial Profiling, with your permission I'd like to outline what one Federal agency, the U.S. Customs Service, has done to address the allegations of racial profiling. It also involves the use of some technology. In my experience, there's no greater threat to the credibility of law enforcement than racial profiling. Anyone who ignores this threat or delays in taking precautions against it risks not just the reputation of the organization in question, but the very compact and trust and fairness between government and the people upon which the civil society rests. I served as the Commissioner of U.S. Customs from August 1998 to January 2001, and before the beginning of my tenure, Customs began to receive allegations from certain members of the traveling public that in specific incidents agency personnel had selected commercial air passengers for physical searches based on race. These allegations, of course, were very disturbing, to say the least. It was certainly not the agency policy to use such tactics in their enforcement mission. In no way were we prepared to accept it as part of our practice. As you know, one of Customs chief responsibilities is to keep dangerous contraband from crossing U.S. borders. The fact is the great majority of travelers entering our country are law-abiding, but there exists a small percentage who are not and who contribute to the illegal menace by smuggling narcotics. It's a difficult job of the Customs Service to stop these individuals. The job is even more difficult when it comes to stopping those who conceal drugs on or in their bodies, particularly those arriving by commercial air. To put this in the proper perspective, Customs searches an extremely small amount of the approximately 80 million commercial air passengers entering the U.S. each year. To accomplish this difficult aspect of its mission, Customs has been granted very broad search authority, the broadest of any law enforcement agency in the land. Inspectors can stop, search and detain travelers based on reasonable suspicion. That is based on specific factors that may lead those officers to believe someone may be carrying drugs. Those criteria are clearly outlined in the intensive training provided to Customs personnel. Under no circumstances whatsoever do these factors ever include a person's race. When complaints of racial profiling surface, we move quickly to review all aspects of our personal search policy. Our preliminary review showed no specific incidence of bias, but we did find lapses in management and supervision that contributed to instances of improper conduct, poor judgment and insensitivity to the rights of travelers. Not satisfied with an internal assessment alone, we immediately appointed an independent outside commission of government and community leaders to conduct a study of Customs' personal searches beginning in April 1999. Commission members were given unfettered access to Customs facilities and personnel across the country. In the meantime we began a number of immediate reforms. First and foremost we increased the role of supervisors in the personal search process. Where in the past any individual inspector could decide whether or not to make a personal search, we ensured that a supervisor approved that decision. Moreover any decision to move someone to a facility for a medical examination had to be approved by a port director, the highest-ranking Customs official onsite. We bolstered training for our employees. We mandated new cultural interaction and personal cert training for all of our officers. That's about 8,000 in all. The agency has a total of about 20,000 employees. We also rewrote our personal search policies, eliminating any phrase that could be remotely construed as bias, and compiled them in a single handbook. We increased legal oversight of the process. We made Customs lawyers available 24 hours a day by phone to inspectors to advise on the legal grounds for searches. We implemented a new policy that requires Customs officers to consult with the local U.S. attorney's office for any prolonged detention. In the past Customs could hold someone indefinitely without permitting contact with friends or family. New notification rules allowed anyone detained to inform someone of his or her delay within 2 hours. Recordkeeping in general was poor. Data collection on personal searches was weak and inconsistent. We instituted mandatory data collection on the race, gender, age and citizenship of persons searched as well as the reasons for the search. We formed a national passenger data analysis unit at headquarters to examine that data. I received updates every morning on the searches we conducted. We made major investments in new nonintrusive technology and x-ray equipment. These included the purchase of body scan machines and mobile x-ray equipment that minimized the need for physical contact and the time-consuming trips to the hospital. That technology was deployed at major international airports across the country. We undertook a major information campaign with the traveling public. That campaign began with an outside consultant's review of our passenger processing areas. Based on a consultant's findings, we implemented a series of changes, including better signage, enhancing the role and visibility of the Customs passenger service representatives, and designing new declaration forms to eliminate confusion for travelers. We also put out new brochures that explained why Customs performs inspections and searches. These included a document entitled, ``Why Did This Happen to Me,'' which explained the personal search process to those who are referred for a secondary inspection. We also developed a passenger rights brochure that explains the rights of travelers and their obligations under U.S. laws. We created a new customer satisfaction unit at headquarters to handle complaints and other issues, and a national comment card program to which travelers can submit their feedback to Customs. To sum up, improved supervision, better training, enhanced legal oversight, better data collection, better technology, better communication with the traveling public, these were the pillars of our reforms. Now, while changes like these require time to take hold, we're very encouraged by the earlier results. Nationally Customs was searching far fewer people than it ever did before while maintaining its overall level of seizures. In the year 2000, Customs cut the number of personal searches significantly, from just over 23,000 searches to just over 9,000, yet the number of positive searches yielding drugs remained relatively constant. Those numbers showed us that we could engage the narcotics traffickers vigorously without allowing the rights of the law-abiding public to become casualties in the counterdrug find. In addition, our comment card program indicated that our changes were being well received by the public. We mandated that officers who give anyone who goes through a secondary inspection a comment card. They were also made available to any traveler passing through our processing areas. As of the close of 2000, we received well over 15,000 cards. Eighty percent complimented Customs and the work of our inspectors. I understand that rate has held steady through today. In June 2000, the Personal Search Commission issued their report. They acknowledge, in their words, a series of bold reforms Customs had taken. While the report did not find specific evidence of bias, it did state that more precautions could be taken and offered 20 recommendations to further safeguard the rights of travelers. I assembled a special high- level internal committee of Customs managers to assess, implement and monitor those findings. Having been involved with this issue for a long time, I know one thing for certain, this is not a problem from which we can simply walk away and declare victory. Policies must be monitored constantly to ensure that changes become embedded in the culture of the organization. Could we prove that racial bias never existed in the Customs Service or guarantee that it never would again? It's a difficult question to answer. Obviously we couldn't scrutinize people's thought processes, but we knew that we could strengthen a system of checks and balances that dramatically reduced the possibility of bias, and we could reinforce through constant training and supervision that there is no place for such a tack, not in the Customs Service nor anywhere else in law enforcement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. [The prepared statement of Mr. Kelly follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.069 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.070 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.071 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.072 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.073 Mr. Burton. Mr. Boykin. Mr. Boykin. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and other members of the committee. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to address you. Before I proceed, I would like to take time out and express our sincere appreciation to Mr. Cummings and other Members of the Congressional Black Caucus for championing and helping us afford many of our initiatives that have come before Congress and other special bodies. Thank you for allowing me as a representative of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives [NOBLE], to testify concerning the benefits of audio-visual technology in addressing racial profiling. My name is Brian Boykin, and I have been in law enforcement for nearly two decades. Before I proceed, I'd like to share a bit of information about our upcoming 25th anniversary training conference. This historical event will be held July 28th through August 1st at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. During this week more than 2,000 of our members with at least 300 Federal, State and local executive-level managers will converge in D.C. to attend our training conference. Additionally we will have an internal contingency of delegates from many other countries in attendance. As most concerned Americans, one of our key topics of discussion will be racial profiling. We will reconvene our racial profiling task force to discuss these critical issues. We feel honored that we have some of the most innovative and forward-thinking professionals that will bring a wealth of information to the table to share with all interested parties. Our national president, Ms. Iona Gillis, and our executive director, Mr. Maurice Foster, asked me to extend each of you an invitation to be our honored guest during this training conference. As you may be aware, in May 2001, NOBLE released our comprehensive plan for combating racial profiling entitled, ``NOBLE Perspective: Racial Profiling, a Symptom of Bias-Based Policing.'' This valuable information can be obtained and downloaded by visiting our Web site at noblenational.org I have a prepared statement they would like to share with this committee. NOBLE was founded in 1976 and consists of many of the most influential chief law enforcement executives throughout the country. NOBLE has been actively involved and concerned over the decline and state of citizen-police relations. Furthermore, NOBLE is unique in that our members, by virtue of their race and/or ethnicity, may be faced with some of the same negative concerns with law enforcement that many minorities complain about frequently. Issues concerning racial profiling, also referred to as DWB, driving while Black, or driving while brown, have significantly affected our country. As stated in the law enforcement code of ethics, as a law enforcement officer my fundamental duty is to serve the community; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the constitutional rights of all to liberty, equality and justice. Unfortunately recently there has been several events involving rogue law enforcement officers that have cast a negative light and caused the public to doubt the true significance of the law enforcement code of ethics. However, we believe that most law enforcement officers are proud to serve the community, and they do it with honor. Moreover, we believe that audio-visual technology, also known as in-car video systems, coupled with other management safeguards will have a profound benefit in restoring trust between law enforcement and the community and helping refute claims of bias-based policing. In-car video systems have been in use in this country for more than a decade. As many of you have probably witnessed on police dramatization shows like COPS and the World Series police videos, police are challenged with some extraordinary situations each and every day. As a law enforcement manager and a practitioner, I can assure you that the benefits both to the community and also to the officers far outweigh the few concerns that you may hear from some opposing groups. In-car video systems enhance police accountability both to management and also to community. The video systems capture a true and accurate picture of what happens on the scene. Additionally it preserves evidence and allows the scenes to be recreated without concern of memory deterioration from the police officer and the citizen. Additionally, the system affords citizens, attorneys and the media to review the true actions and behavior of law enforcement. This technology can confirm or dispel claims of officers violating civil rights. Furthermore, the tapes can be presented as evidence both in civil and criminal proceedings. Last and most importantly to me as a law enforcement professional, an in-car video system is an extra added layer of safety for police officers who protect our society each and every day. Studies have repeatedly shown that cameras positively modify and influence people's behavior. Whether it's an irate or unruly citizen or an officer that is violating a citizen's rights, the system should aid in capturing this inappropriate and/or illegal behavior. In closing I would be happy to have an in-car video system to be my front seat partner. Again, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you concerning this matter. Mr. Burton. Thank you, Lieutenant Boykin. [The prepared statement of Mr. Boykin follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.074 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.075 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.076 Mr. Burton. Mr. Maloney. Mr. Maloney. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and members of the House Committee on Government Reform, on behalf of TriTech Software System, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to testify at this important hearing. The purpose of my testimony before you today is not to explore issues and allegations relating to racial profiling, but rather to address practical technical considerations relating to a nationwide effort to quantify and remedy racial profiling practices. I personally believe that the use of existing technology such as audio-visual applications can provide many of the capabilities we are collectively seeking. However, audio and video technology can only address some of the data collection requirements, and the utility of the information when collected lends itself only to a narrow range of very local applications within the organization sponsoring it. The current available systems to collect this audio-visual information are costly, and the storage and retrieval of this data is time-consuming and requires dedicated personnel at additional expense. TriTech has created a solution that is not only an effective and powerful information technology tool, but is uniquely affordable in the marketplace where cost is always a principal consideration. This solution can be used on a stand- alone basis or as a complement to the collection of information with audio-visual applications. I would like to begin with a brief overview of TriTech Software Systems and its position within the public safety law enforcement marketplace. TriTech Software Systems, headquartered in San Diego, CA, has developed integrated and support software solutions for public safety for nearly 20 years. Our computer-aided dispatch solution VisiCAD is installed in more than 125 agencies and six countries. In October 2000, TriTech deployed Voyager, a suite of portable wireless applications targeted primarily at the needs of the law enforcement community. The Voyager suite of applications runs on virtually any personal digital assistant, two-way pager or smart phone capable of wireless communications. TriTech's Voyager contact application facilitates collection of data relating to contact demographics and enables statistical reporting and analysis. Technology solutions may address two perspectives related to racial profiling: First, to potentially discourage officers from engaging in racial profiling practices, and, second, to provide objective evidence to either support or disprove allegations of racial profiling. Audio-visual technology has been used effectively by many police departments to disprove allegations of officer misconduct and to provide an added measure of officer safety. The primary advantages afforded by audio-visual technology are its visibility to suspects and its acceptance by police officers as a supportive defensive tool. However, as a racial profiling tool for analysis, audio-visual technology is limited as a stand-alone solution for several reasons. First, an officer willfully engaging in racial profiling activities could elect not to record the stop. Two, the reasons for escalating a search after an initial contact could be difficult to capture from a video camera. And three, the information captured using audio-visual tools cannot be used to populate a data base against which statistical analysis can be applied. Tools for data collection must be easy to use, allowing the officer to more easily perform his daily duties while capturing this important data. Tools such as Voyager greatly facilitate both data entry and data retrieval in or out of the patrol car by allowing officers to query criminal data bases while simultaneously documenting the stop. In addition to ease of use, data collection tools must be affordable. Video systems installed in the patrol vehicles and the required costs of storage and retrieval are expensive. Of the more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, more than 80 percent lack the financial resources to procure such equipment. By contrast, our solution operates on a variety of inexpensive hand-held devices at a low monthly cost, as little as $100, and appeals to all agencies regardless of size. In conclusion, Voyager contact is an affordable innovative data collection tool that offers a stand-alone or complementary technical solution to law enforcement. The benefits include a data collection mechanism that is secure, portable and easy to use, and affordable by even the smallest agency; applications that empower officers to enhance officer safety through immediate access to criminal justice information; and last, protection against civil litigation through its extensive operational audit trail. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important matter. TriTech Software Systems would be honored to work in concert with the House committee to provide any requested information or technical guidance in this matter. Thank you very much. [The prepared statement of Mr. Maloney follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.077 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.078 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.079 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.080 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7191.081 Mr. Cannon [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Maloney, and I apologize for not having got here earlier, but I hope we have just a pleasant exchange on some of these issues and build a record that will be helpful, although it looks like we're going to go. Do you want to take like 2 or 3 minutes? I'll take 2 or 3 minutes. Why don't I recognize Mr. Cummings for a couple of minutes, then I'll take a couple of minutes, then we will go vote and come back. Why don't we take 5 minutes and let me recognize you, Mr. Cummings, for 5 minutes. Then we will go vote and come back. Mr. Cummings. Let me just ask you, Ms. King, when you listened to Mr. Kelly's testimony, did that surprise you, to go from 23,000 to 9,000 searches was it, Mr. Kelly? Mr. Kelly. Yes, sir. Mr. Cummings. And still be effective. Ms. King. No, sir, it did not. I was actually aware of those numbers. The ACLU has sued the Customs Service, and so we are following this issue closely. We have been very impressed with some of the reforms Mr. Kelly has made and do believe they have made a difference, although we would point out, as Mr. Kelly did himself, that there is still some disparity in numbers coming back that needs to be explained, and it sounds like they're looking toward trying to figure out how does that still exist. The question about does it surprise me, it doesn't because racial profiling is pretty ineffective. So it doesn't surprise me they can get the same results without submitting innocent people to such humiliating treatment. Mr. Cummings. Are there things--were you here earlier when the gentleman from Texas, the two senators, testified? Were you here? Ms. King. Uh-huh. Mr. Cummings. OK. The legislation they talked about, are you familiar with it? Ms. King. Yes, I am. Mr. Cummings. Is that more or less model legislation, or is it still a lot to be desired there? Ms. King. It's pretty good, although we weren't very pleased with the opt-out provision, which is if you--they have two different data collection requirements. You have to collect data on all traffic stops and all pedestrian stops unless you have purchased and are using video cameras or have tried to purchase video cameras and can show that you couldn't afford to, in which case then you can opt out of collecting data on all stops and only have to on arrests and citations. And we would prefer not to have the opt-out provision. We think that more data and the video cameras would be better, but it's still a good, overall I'd say good piece of legislation. Mr. Cummings. Mr. Kelly, when you all went from the 23,000 to the 9,000, I mean, you know, all of us travel and come through the airports and travel overseas and whatever. And I am trying to figure out what is it that you did different? I mean, in other words, you will still--you said initially that there was--you named several things that you all were doing wrong. You kind of generalized, but at the same time you said that you reduced the number, and I'm trying to figure out what is it that you did, and how did you determine how to reduce the number? You follow me? Mr. Kelly. Yes, I do. I think you have to understand how Customs is constructed. It has 301 ports of entry into the United States. And I think it's fair to say--and people who have been in Customs for a while would support me on this--that the process just wasn't watched adequately by management. It just wasn't supervised. So it was going on pretty much at the initiation of an individual inspector. So the process itself wasn't watched on the local level as far as supervisors are concerned or managers, and it wasn't being watched on a national level. I think when, in fact, the word got out that it was being looked at and that you needed total and complete data collection, which also wasn't happening, those two factors were the most important in making significant changes in how the Customs Service operated. Collecting that data, everyone who is searched has to be recorded, gender, location, reasons for that search, supervisor had to authorize it, and then managers up the chain of command were certainly accountable for looking at it, those two things alone were the major reasons for a change, and I have been in policing a long time. I was in New York City Police Department for 31 years. Again, I think those two facts, the total data collection and management involvement, can go a long way to significantly reducing the problems associated with stop and frisk. Mr. Cummings. I have some other questions, Mr. Chairman, but I think we are approaching this vote. Mr. Cannon. Thank you. I note it looks like we're going to have a 10 minutes of debate, then a motion to recommit and then final passage. So I think we probably need to recess until after we finish that, and I suspect that's going to take 20 or 30 minutes, if that will work for the panel. OK. Thank you. So we'll recess for 30 minutes, and until we finish this vote. [Recess.] Mr. Cannon. We thank the panel for its extraordinary patience. Thank you for coming back. And I think we'll just continue with Mr. Cummings' time. Mr. Cummings. Ms. King, on racial profiling, extensively is it your sense that this problem is greater on the State level than on the Federal level? In other words, is it more of a problem? Ms. King. It's difficult to answer your question, sir, because we have basically a lack of information. We have reliable data or at least initial data out of New Jersey and Missouri and Maryland and California and Rhode Island, and from the Customs Service, but I'm not aware of any other Federal agencies that have compiled and distributed data, although President Clinton did order it to be collected back in June 1999. There hasn't been any distribution of the results of that. So it's hard to say whether it's more prevalent in one or the other level. Mr. Cummings. Mr. Kelly, when your people had to collect data, did that impede them in any kind of way? They had to collect data; is that right? Mr. Kelly. Yes. That's correct. Mr. Cummings. Did that impede their efforts in any way? Mr. Kelly. None whatsoever. Mr. Cummings. You know that's the usual argument, right? You know, many police departments say it interferes with what they have to do. And I would like for you to comment on that also, Lieutenant. Mr. Kelly. It's a necessary part of doing business. They have to do it. In New York City, for years, there still is a form that's used and should have been used and just wasn't used. It wasn't because it was taking up too much time. It simply was not given the appropriate attention by management for years. So I don't see it as, in my view anyway, interfering with normal law enforcement business. Mr. Cummings. Mr. Boykin. Mr. Boykin. Yes, Mr. Cummings. As you indicated, many times you'll hear individuals in law enforcement comment that it increases the time spent on a traffic stop, and it inconveniences the citizen. Additionally, in many instances, you might hear they might actually have to ask the race of the individual. And I think much of the problem in many localities is that the policies have, and in some instances cannot be explained thoroughly enough to the officer. And many times they don't have a good explanation for why they're doing what they're doing. So I think there lies part of the problem. But in many of the agencies that we've had contact with, there's been little or no inconvenience to the citizen. Kind of going back to the initial question that you asked Ms. King related to it, that what we're finding throughout the country is that many agencies have not, No. 1, been collecting this data long enough; and No. 2, once they get the data collected, they are having a time and an analyzation of that data to produce a viable product. Mr. Cummings. Mr. Maloney, you may have explained this, but in a previous panel they were talking about--I forget who it was--was talking about how--and I think you talked about it briefly--how you can collect the data, but then you've got to be able to process it. And your technology--and I assume yours is not the only company that has this kind of technology, I mean, this technology is designed to be reviewed daily, or, I mean, how is that done, and how do you minimize personnel hours to have--to review it? Mr. Maloney. That's a very good question. I think the issue up until this point has been most of the departments that are under consent decrees to collect this data have done so on paper, and that requires a lot of back-end processing. Somebody's got to data-enter the paper after the fact. And that is sort of an onerous job for the officer to do, because there's not really a benefit to the officer to filling out a form. So the good news about new hand-held wireless technology is that the officer can fill out the form very easily, very quickly. There's edit checks inside the Personal Digital Assistant to make sure he's filling out the right information, and then once he hits the send button, the information is transmitted back into a central data base for immediate analysis and processing. So, in essence, the computer is doing more of the checks and the analysis work, and the officer has to do very little other than just fill out some basic information. In addition, on the back end, one of the nice things of this technology is that the officer is going to get information back once they're entering the information. So when they put in a license plate or a driver's license of a suspect, they're going to be looking up criminal information at the State and the Federal level so they can get that back and help them do their job better, because they may be pulling over somebody who has a criminal history, maybe it's a stolen vehicle, and they're not going to know that until they do that look-up. So both of those in parallel with each other make it a very positive experience for the officer, and they actually want to do this. Mr. Cummings. Mr. Kelly, did you find that there was a lot of--in other words, there were people reluctant to do the things--you know, the things that you put in operation? Were they reluctant--there was not a great deal of supervision before, and people usually don't like change, and I can imagine in a quasimilitary operation, change becomes very uncomfortable. Did you find changing the mindset to be difficult? Mr. Kelly. Yes. There was some initial resistance. The union is about 11,000 members of the Customs Service in the bargaining unit. There were concerns and questions through the union. But I think management went out and explained the reason for it. As the Lieutenant said before, you have to give the rationale, the reasons, to the employees as to why they're doing it. I think part of it was that they saw themselves becoming more professional, more like full players in the law enforcement community, and I think this was part and parcel to, you might say, their development. And it was--I think you can see by the numbers that it's been accepted, and it was accepted relatively quickly. Yes, there was initial resistance, but I think they realized themselves that there wasn't adequate supervision, that there wasn't adequate control, so that there wasn't adequate data collection. Some places were collecting data, other places were not, and we explained this to them. At the same time, we made most of these changes just prior to Senate Finance Committee hearings that were to take place, three sessions on the Customs Service in the spring of 1999 to be modeled after, to a certain extent, the hearings that the Senate Finance had on the IRS earlier. So we tried to impress on them the necessity of making change; this is the right thing to do; let's all get on board. I think a lot of the confluence of the events came together and was accepted relatively early on, with much to my pleasant surprise. Mr. Cummings. One last comment. You know, I think that if they had to go through and be subjected, as a part of the exercise of sensitivity, being searched and, you know, body search and all that kind of stuff, I think maybe they might look at it a little differently, because I think what happens is--Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ``you cannot lead where you do not go, and you cannot teach what you don't know.'' And so often I think people need to be sensitized to that extent, because I don't think they like to see that happen to their wife or to themselves or relatives. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Cannon. Thank you, Mr. Cummings. I'd like to, first of all, salute you, Ms. King and Lieutenant Boykin, for your organizations' efforts in ending racial profiling. And I want you to know that I join you in condemning this offensive practice and calling the State and local and other prosecutors to seek to stop this illegal act. I also want to see us have some reaction to those people who falsely accuse law enforcement officers of racial profiling. I might just point out here as a side-bar, Ms. King, are you familiar with the study last year or so of racial profiling in Salt Lake City? Ms. King. A little bit, yes. Mr. Cannon. My recollection is we came out of that pretty well as a police force. And in part we have a number of Hispanics on our police force. The chief of police is Hispanic. I think there was a great deal of sensitivity to it, and I think people just thought it was wrong. So I'm pleased that, by far, the largest city police force in the State of Utah came away from that clean. And by the way, that happened in the context of an increase of 128 percent in our Hispanic population over a 10-year period. So I think there was a difficult challenge there, and we met that pretty well in Salt Lake. Would the two of you describe your organizations' efforts to help support the use of audio-visual technology as one of the possible tools that can help eliminate racial profiling? Ms. King. Ah, yes, sure. As I guess I was talking before you came in about our support of H.R. 2074, which we would very much like you to consider becoming a sponsor of, And one aspect of that bill is a grant program that provides moneys to jurisdictions to do these kind of best practices programs, setting up data collection programs, oversight programs, accountability programs, training programs and video cameras if that's what the jurisdiction feels would be beneficial to them. So that's one area right now that's pending where we're actively promoting that legislation. Mr. Cannon. Are you doing anything in the community beyond the legislative action? Ms. King. We're doing all kinds of stuff on this. I mean, we're bringing litigation, and we're working both at the State and Federal level and on legislation and also on public education. This is one of our top priorities. Video cameras per se, as I said earlier, I don't see that as the sole solution to the problem of racial profiling, so we're really focusing more on data collection. I think in an ideal world, we'd have the technology like they have in Montgomery County, which is video cameras in every car and also hand-held devices, like those described earlier. And in an ideal world, everybody would have both pieces of technology, but it's not an ideal world. Although we support video cameras, we wouldn't want to see funding go to video cameras if it meant taking it away from data collection programs. Mr. Cannon. The really cool thing is that the cost of these devices are coming down so dramatically. Maybe we'll see more of it over time. Lieutenant Boykin. Mr. Boykin. Yes, Mr. Cannon. As my colleague had indicated, we're strongly in support of in-car video systems as a method to combat racial profiling. And like she indicated, we also recognize that's only one of many aspects that we need to look at. One that we might want to start at is our hiring practices. If you traditionally and historically look at the types of people that law enforcement have hired, and even the way that we try to attract them, if you would actually take a close look at the commercials and the brochures that police departments are putting out, they're high-action types of videos. They're high-action types of brochures with police dogs and helicopters and SWAT teams and people with guns. That's the type of people you're going to get. That's the type of psychological profile of the individual you're going to get if that's what you're actually putting out as a persona for what you're looking for. I think we need to take a close look at that as an aspect. We certainly need to look at our training and education aspect. And like Ms. King, we're doing quite a bit in the community, because we believe that it's a full-circle process. We're actively out there. And as I stated in my opening statements, that I think NOBLE is in a very unique situation because many times our members and executives are faced with some of the same challenges that are the minorities. We live in many of these communities that are receiving this level and type of services. So we believe that we have an obligation to these minority communities to make a marketable change. For that reason we have many community-based programs. We're trying to educate both young and old of their actual constitutional rights in the community. We went in partnership with Allstate Insurance Co. and created a brochure and videotape entitled, ``The Law and You,'' which actually speaks loud to actually what individual rights are. The highlighted message is whether you're right or wrong. And we've seen incident after incident that the street is not a good battleground for a citizen to try to take up their cause. So that's important to us. Additionally, we went in partnership with the Community Policing Consortium, in which we go to police departments and provide training in the community. We're actually bringing community in with the police department and talking about what's important to them, developing problem-solving modules. So that's just a little bit of what we believe is the solution to this. Mr. Cannon. Thank you very much, Ms. King and Lieutenant Boykin. I understand that the ACLU and NOBLE have long supported the use of audio-visual technology as a tool to substantiate charges of police brutality. Are you aware of how effective this technology has been in regard to preventing or documenting police brutality? Ms. King. I don't know about any studies on it. The anecdote that I gave in my testimony was of a racial profiling incident where both patrol cars actually had videos on board. So I think that if police want to figure out a way to avoid having the cameras document what's going on, they can do so. Of course, sometimes the cameras help to the benefit of the officer as well who has been wrongfully charged, but I don't know of any studies that show effectiveness. Mr. Boykin. I would just have to echo what Ms. King indicated. Again, referring back to my opening statements of what I said, I think it's a pretty well and common known fact that people generally behave better in front of cameras, whether you're a criminal or a police officer. So that added benefit right there certainly, I believe, would not only benefit the police department, but also the community at large, and that's very important. We have a vested interest in our community to make sure that all communities are receiving the proper and adequate quality level of police law enforcement services. Mr. Cannon. Thank you, Ms. King. Ms. King, today we've seen how audio-visual technology can both substantiate charges of racial profiling and, likewise, perhaps to disprove some claims. In addition to what your organization has done as far as this technology in Texas, where else has the ACLU supported State legislative efforts to support the use of this technology to combat racial profiling? Ms. King. Well, I'm aware of legislation pending currently in Indiana and Minnesota. I'm quite certain our affiliates would support both of those bills, especially the Minnesota bill. It's a very good piece of legislation. And other than that, in terms of legislation--I guess New Jersey wasn't legislation. It was under consent decree. And North Carolina was, I believe, legislation for their video cameras, and we did support that bill. Mr. Cannon. Thank you---- Ms. King. And Missouri as well. Mr. Cannon. Ms. King and Lieutenant Boykin, it's our understanding that audio-visual tape evidence is admissible evidence in court. Do you agree with that? Ms. King. Uh-huh. Mr. Boykin. Most definitely. We believe that it certainly should be admissible. Mr. Cannon. Mr. Kelly, please, would you describe for the committee how the Customs Service uses audio-visual technology to record activity, and specifically how such evidence is used when Customs agents are accused of inappropriate actions? Mr. Kelly. It's not used in that regard. The only aspect of technology that's used as far as personal search is concerned is a body scan--the body-imaging machines that are now at airports at 10 major cities throughout the country. Basically what that does is an x-ray light looks through the clothing of an individual, but not through the body, and that is only done on a voluntary basis. That's when someone has been singled out for a pat-down. If that individual does not want to be touched, they can volunteer to go in front of this machine. It looks through, as I say, the clothing and not the body. If that person does not have contraband in their possession, that picture is immediately destroyed. The supervisor has the responsibility to seeing to that happening. If, in fact, drugs are found, the contraband is found, that picture is taken. So that is a visual aspect of the technology that's in place now in the Customs Service. There has been some talk about the possibility of audio- visual components being used as far as personal search is concerned. I think there are some privacy issues that might arise there. In fact, if you use them, say, in a room where someone is asked to take off a piece of their clothing, that's an area of concern. It's been discussed, but to the best of my knowledge, the agency hasn't moved forward in that regard. Mr. Cannon. Mr. Cummings, do you have any other questions? Mr. Cummings. I don't have anything else. I want to thank you all for being with us, and your testimony has been extremely helpful. Mr. Cannon. I would also like to repeat our thanks to you for your patience under these long and trying circumstances, and thank you for coming. And the committee will stand adjourned. 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