For immediate release
February 9, 2006
Harrisburg (PA) - Based in part on the work of the York County Coalition Against Racial Profiling, the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission has added a standard barring racial profiling.
"The Coalition's leadership in bringing the issue of bias-based policing to the table prompted a discussion that resulted in our decision to include a standard barring the practice," said Chief Thomas C. Gross of the York Area Regional Police Department. Chief Gross is a member of the PA Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission and the York County Chiefs of Police Subcommittee on Bias-Based Policing.
The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association introduced the accreditation program in July 2001. The program is geared toward professionalizing and standardizing law enforcement in Pennsylvania. In order to become an "accredited" law enforcement agency, all standards of the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Program must be met.
In December 2005 the accreditation standards were amended to include a section that bars racial profiling or "bias-based policing."
The new standard states: "Under no circumstances will bias based policing be condoned," and defines bias-based policing as an action taken "based solely on a common trait of a group. Common traits inclu...race, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, religion, economic status, age, or cultural group."
The directive is available at http://www.pachiefs.org/accreditation%20whats%20new.htm
The York County Coalition Against Racial Profiling is a grassroots organization comprised of various groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Central PA Chapter, York Chapter of National Coalition of 100 Black Women, York Branch of the NAACP, People for Peace & Justice-York, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, York County Coalition Against Racism (YCCAR) and Coalition for Immigrants Rights at the Community Level (CIRCLE).
In January 2005, the Coalition Against Racial Profiling and the York County Chiefs of Police signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) confirming both groups' commitment to eradicating bias-based policing in York County.
"The new accreditation standard reflects another positive step forward in achieving and advancing the goals of the MOU," said Chief David C. Eshbach, Springettsbury Township Chief of Police and Chair of the York County Chiefs of Police Subcommittee on Bias-Based Policing,
A meeting to update the community on the progress that has been made since the MOU signing is scheduled for February 23 at 7 p.m. at Crispus Attucks Community Center.
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