Prince William Police Alert Drivers To New Anti-Profiling Law

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — The Prince William County Police Department will begin collecting data about drivers who are stopped by police and reporting it to the Virginia State Police as part of the state's Community Policing Act, which goes into effect Wednesday.

The Community Policing Act, sponsored by Del. Luke Torian of Woodbridge, prohibits the Virginia State Police and local police and sheriff’s departments from engaging in bias-based profiling and requires officers to collect and report additional data pertaining to motor vehicle or investigatory stops that will be collected in a statewide database.

A database will be maintained by the state police for the purpose of determining the existence of bias-based profiling. The data will also be analyzed for the prevalence of complaints alleging the use of excessive force by Virginia law enforcement officers.

Currently, police officers in Virginia are not required to report the race, ethnicity or gender of drivers during traffic stops. Under the new law, police officers must document the demographic information of individuals on all traffic stop encounters. The data that is required to be collected during traffic stops includes race, ethnicity, age, and gender of the person stopped.

Officers also must list the reason for the stop; the location of the stop; whether a warning, written citation, or summons was issued; and whether any persons were arrested. The police also must provide indicate whether the vehicle or any person was searched.

"As the Police Department complies with this new mandate, we want our community to be aware that additional questioning by our officers may occur during these stops so our agency can collect the required data," the police department said Monday in a news release.

The Prince William County Police Department said it "remains committed to ensuring all community members are treated fairly and impartially.

The new law seeks to “prohibit law-enforcement officers from engaging in bias-based profiling in the performance of their official duties.” The Prince William County police said it supports this effort and "will provide all required data to ensure this does not occur in our community."