SB41.html

To amend Chapter 1 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions relative to motor vehicles and traffic, so as to require policies that prohibit law enforcement officers from impermissibly using race or ethnicity in determining whether to stop a motorist; to require annual training of law enforcement officers on impermissible uses of race and ethnicity in stopping vehicles; to require law enforcement officers to document the race, ethnicity, and gender of a motorist and passengers; to provide for other matters relative thereto; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Chapter 1 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions relative to motor vehicles and traffic, is amended by inserting at the end thereof a new Code Section 40-1-8 to read as follows:
"40-1-8.
Law enforcement officers shall not use a person´s race or ethnicity to form probable cause or reasonable suspension to stop a vehicle but may use a person´s race or ethnicity to confirm a previously obtained description of a suspect.
(1) Each state and local law enforcement agency shall adopt a policy and implement an annual training program regarding racial profiling that provides and instructs that a law enforcement officer shall not use a person´s race or ethnicity to form probable cause or reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle but may use a person´s race or ethnicity to confirm a previously obtained description of a suspect.
(2) Each time a state or local law enforcement officer stops a motor vehicle, that officer shall document the following information in a public record whose format shall be determined by the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety:
(A) The gender, race, and ethnicity of the driver;
(B) The alleged violation that led to the stop;

(C) Whether the vehicle, personal effects, driver, or any passenger was searched and, if any passenger or his or her effects are searched, the passenger´s gender, race, and ethnicity;
(D) Whether a search was conducted pursuant to consent, probable cause, or reasonable suspicion to suspect a crime, including the approximate duration of the search and the basis for the request for consent or the circumstances establishing probable cause or reasonable suspicion;
(E) Whether contraband was found, the type and approximate amount of contraband, and whether contraband was seized;
(F) Whether any arrest, citation, or any oral or written warning was issued as a result of the stop;
(G) Whether the officer making the stop encountered any physical resistance, whether the officer engaged in the use of force, and whether injuries resulted; and
(H) Whether the circumstances surrounding the stop were the subject of any investigation and the results of that investigation.
(3) Law enforcement agencies and the Attorney General may review the data required to be collected under paragraph (4) of this Code section to determine whether members of minority groups are disproportionately stopped, searched, warned, or arrested and may take appropriate remedial action.
(4) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to alter the requirements for determining probable cause or reasonable suspicion under the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of Georgia."