LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the establishment of the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, including the community and law enforcement leaders who will comprise the board membership. The board, as mandated by Assembly Bill 953 authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), is tasked with helping to eliminate racial and identity profiling in law enforcement.

“Keeping our communities safe requires a strong relationship of trust between law enforcement and those they are sworn to serve.  The existence of bias in our criminal justice system is destructive to that trust and harms our ability to deliver justice,” said Attorney General Harris. “I look forward to working with these dedicated Californians, who represent our state’s rich diversity, to improve policing and restore the trust needed to ensure that our justice system is truly just.”

In October 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 953, known as the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015. The Act includes requirements regarding a number of significant law enforcement issues, including: 1) Collection of data regarding citizen complaints alleging racial and identity profiling; 2) Collection of data regarding law enforcement stops and detentions; and 3) Creation of the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board.

Under the law, Attorney General Harris is responsible for establishing the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, which is tasked with:

• Advising the Department of Justice in drafting regulations to govern the collection and reporting of pedestrian and traffic stop data;
• Annually reviewing and analyzing the stop data submitted by law enforcement agencies;
• Working in partnership with state and local law enforcement agencies to review and analyze racial and identity profiling policies and practices across California; and
• Conducting evidence-based research on intentional and implicit bias.

The board is comprised of current and former law enforcement officials, attorneys, community and spiritual leaders, university professors, and civil rights activists, including: Angela Sierra, Oscar Bobrow, Chief Edward Medrano, Sheriff David Robinson, President Michael Durant, Commissioner Joe Farrow, Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, Sahar Durali, Tim Silard, Mariana Marroquin, Timothy Walker, Reverend Ben McBride, Pastor J. Edward Boyd, Honorable Alice Lytle, Alex Johnson, Andrea Guerrero, Douglas Oden, and Honorable Micah Ali.

More information about the implementation of AB 953 can be found at: https://oag.ca.gov/ab953