In one of his last actions as Attorney General, Eric Holder will announce new limits to racial profiling at the Department of Justice. Holder has reputedly been working on the new limits since 2009 but the recent spate of issues concerning Africa American males seems to have moved the item to the top of Holder’s agenda. While the new limits will only apply to the Department of Justice, advocates hope that local police departments will also adopt the new limits.
An update to the 2003 guidelines developed during President George W. Bush’s administration, the new limits are expected to include the expansion of the categories covered by the racial profiling policy to included gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and national origin. The original policy only covered race and ethnicity.
“As Attorney General, I have repeatedly made clear that profiling by law enforcement is not only wrong, it is profoundly misguided and ineffective — because it wastes precious resources and undermines the public trust,” Holder said to BuzzFeed News. “Particularly in light of certain recent incidents we’ve seen at the local level — and the widespread concerns about trust in the criminal justice process which so many have raised throughout the nation — it’s imperative that we take every possible action to institute strong and sound policing practices.”
The new policy is expected to also address issues with respect to officer training, the national security exceptions to the policy, as well as in what situations the new policy will apply. The policy will be released later today.
Holder is expected to take a tour to tout the new limits, as well as show that the Obama administration is addressing the issue that has been raised by situations in Ferguson, Missouri, New York and Ohio where African American men were killed by police but grand juries did not issue indictments.
