Rhode Island § 31-21.2-2 § 31-21.2-2. Findings.

Rhode Island Statutes

§ 31-21.2-2 — § 31-21.2-2. Findings.

Rhode Island § 31-21.2-2

Title 31Motor and Other vehicles

Ch. 31-21.2Comprehensive Community-Police Relationship Act of 2015

This text of Rhode Island § 31-21.2-2 (§ 31-21.2-2. Findings.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-21.2-2 (2026).

Text

§ 31-21.2-2. Findings.
(a) Municipal and state law enforcement officers play a vital role in protecting the public
            from crime. The vast majority of police officers discharge their duties professionally
            and without bias.
         
(b) The use by police officers of race, ethnicity, or national origin solely in deciding
            which persons should be subject to traffic stops, searches and seizures is improper.
         
(c) In many communities nonwhite drivers in Rhode Island, subjected to discretionary searches,
            are twice as likely as whites to be searched.
         
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§ 31-21.2-2. Findings.

(a) Municipal and state law enforcement officers play a vital role in protecting the public from crime. The vast majority of police officers discharge their duties professionally and without bias.

(b) The use by police officers of race, ethnicity, or national origin solely in deciding which persons should be subject to traffic stops, searches and seizures is improper.

(c) In many communities nonwhite drivers in Rhode Island, subjected to discretionary searches, are twice as likely as whites to be searched.

(d) In some instances, law enforcement practices may have the unintended effect of promoting racially disparate stops and searches.

(e) Racial profiling harms individuals subjected to it because they experience fear, anxiety, humiliation, anger, resentment and cynicism when they are unjustifiably treated as criminal suspects.

(f) Racial profiling damages law enforcement and the criminal justice system as a whole by undermining public confidence and trust in the police, the courts, and criminal law, and thereby undermining law enforcement efforts and ability to solve and reduce crime.

(g) A comprehensive solution is needed to address racial profiling at the state and local levels.