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| 1 | AN ACT concerning police procedure.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Police | ||||||
| 5 | Sensitivity Task Force Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Purposes. | ||||||
| 7 | (a) The General Assembly acknowledges that the 2010 Traffic | ||||||
| 8 | Stop Statistics Report prepared by the Illinois Department of | ||||||
| 9 | Transportation indicates that the number of vehicle stops has | ||||||
| 10 | declined in recent years but the number of consent searches | ||||||
| 11 | performed and citations issued to minorities has increased. | ||||||
| 12 | (b) The General Assembly acknowledges that minorities | ||||||
| 13 | typically experience intimidation to allow law enforcement | ||||||
| 14 | officers to search their vehicles, trunk space, containers, and | ||||||
| 15 | person, because of the authoritative relationship displayed by | ||||||
| 16 | police. | ||||||
| 17 | (c) The General Assembly acknowledges that although | ||||||
| 18 | consent searches have proven to be very useful tools in | ||||||
| 19 | reducing the availability of prohibited items such as guns and | ||||||
| 20 | drugs, the Illinois Department of Transportation report | ||||||
| 21 | indicates that a disparity exists and more specifically, that | ||||||
| 22 | police officers misinterpret signs of suspicion in minorities | ||||||
| 23 | more than they do for Caucasians.
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| 1 | (d) Leaders within the law enforcement community have | ||||||
| 2 | recognized that the stop, question, and search process has | ||||||
| 3 | created a problem of public trust and undermines police | ||||||
| 4 | legitimacy.
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| 5 | (e) Existing policies regarding consent searches are | ||||||
| 6 | inconsistent among law enforcement agencies and fail to address | ||||||
| 7 | all elements of the stop and search process. | ||||||
| 8 | (f) The General Assembly acknowledges that the key to | ||||||
| 9 | achieving policing policies based on mutual respect, | ||||||
| 10 | neutrality, and trust between the officers and the citizens | ||||||
| 11 | they detain is the elimination of bias, discrimination, and | ||||||
| 12 | incompetence with law enforcement.
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| 13 | (g) The General Assembly believes that a Task Force should | ||||||
| 14 | be created to investigate instances of racial disparity related | ||||||
| 15 | to traffic stops and make recommendations concerning the | ||||||
| 16 | revision of racial sensitivity curriculum offered by police | ||||||
| 17 | training academies. | ||||||
| 18 | Section 10. Police Sensitivity Task Force. | ||||||
| 19 | (a) The Police Sensitivity Task Force (hereinafter | ||||||
| 20 | referred to as the Task Force) is created and shall be composed | ||||||
| 21 | of the following members who shall serve without compensation | ||||||
| 22 | for their service as members of the Task Force: | ||||||
| 23 | (1) two members of the House of Representatives | ||||||
| 24 | appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; | ||||||
| 25 | (2) two members of the House of Representatives | ||||||
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| 1 | appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of | ||||||
| 2 | Representatives; | ||||||
| 3 | (3) two members of the Senate appointed by the | ||||||
| 4 | President of the Senate; | ||||||
| 5 | (4) two members of the Senate appointed by the Minority | ||||||
| 6 | Leader of the Senate; | ||||||
| 7 | (5) the Executive Director of the Illinois Law | ||||||
| 8 | Enforcement Training Standards Board or his or her | ||||||
| 9 | designee; | ||||||
| 10 | (6) the Director of State Police or his or her | ||||||
| 11 | designee; | ||||||
| 12 | (7) the Chairperson of the Illinois Human Rights | ||||||
| 13 | Commission; | ||||||
| 14 | (8) The Superintendent of the Chicago Police | ||||||
| 15 | Department or his or her designee; | ||||||
| 16 | (9) the Sheriff of Cook County or his or her designee; | ||||||
| 17 | (10) a university professor teaching in the field of | ||||||
| 18 | law enforcement appointed by the Speaker of the House of | ||||||
| 19 | Representatives; and | ||||||
| 20 | (11) a university professor teaching in the field of | ||||||
| 21 | law enforcement appointed by the President of the Senate. | ||||||
| 22 | (b) The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the | ||||||
| 23 | House of Representatives shall each appoint a joint chair to | ||||||
| 24 | the Task Force. | ||||||
| 25 | (c) The Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board | ||||||
| 26 | shall provide administrative support to the Task Force. | ||||||
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| 1 | (d) The Task Force shall: | ||||||
| 2 | (1) investigate instances of racial disparity related | ||||||
| 3 | to traffic stops;
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| 4 | (2) obtain testimony from persons who believed that | ||||||
| 5 | they were victims of racial disparity in traffic stops and | ||||||
| 6 | from law enforcement officers; | ||||||
| 7 | (3) study past practices relating to traffic stops; and | ||||||
| 8 | (4) make recommendations to the Illinois Law | ||||||
| 9 | Enforcement Training Standards Board for suggested | ||||||
| 10 | revisions to existing racial sensitivity curriculum, and | ||||||
| 11 | to municipal, county, and State law enforcement agencies to | ||||||
| 12 | address the problem of racial disparity related to traffic | ||||||
| 13 | stops.
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| 14 | (e) The Task Force shall hold public hearings and shall | ||||||
| 15 | issue a written report of its findings and recommendations to | ||||||
| 16 | the General Assembly on or before January 1, 2014; and that | ||||||
| 17 | upon filing its report the Task Force is dissolved.
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