On April 13, 2011 Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire signed Senate Bill 5242 into law that bans profiling of motorcyclists by state troopers and local law enforcement officers. The new law is modeled after 2002 legislation that prohibits racial profiling. It requires law enforcement training and work within the motorcycle community to better understand and eliminate "motorcycle profiling."
In testimony last year, Donnie Landsman of ABATE Washingrton spoke out about law enforcement's use of a banned Biker101 service manual that discribes bikers as dangerous and prone to violence. He also described what he termed "catch and release" stops used by law enforcement as an opportunity to search the motorcycle, photograph the biker's tattoos and fish for information about riding club affiliations. Here's the video.
Here is a copy of the new anti-motorcycle profiling law that was passed by the Washington State legislature on March 5th, 2011:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5242.PL.pdf
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Very well spoken Donnie and David. It makes me happy to hear that we (Motorcyclist) have two strong speakers helping us to keep our freedoms.
ReplyDeleteLet's spread the word as much as possible... This is the first state to ban biker profiling (or even acknowledge that it exists.) More states need to use this as a model to ban biker profiling and these motorcycle-only "safety" stops, etc. (Like in Georgia)
ReplyDelete