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Bill Would Prohibit Racial Profiling By Police

A night-time traffic stop in Durham. Credit: Ildar Sagdejev (Specious) for Wikipedia

North Carolina lawmakers have filed a bill that would prohibit racial profiling by police, and require additional training for officers.

The bill would also require law enforcement agencies to collect homicide statistics that include data about people killed by officers.

House Bill 99, known as the Anti-Discrimination Act of 2017, was filed by four Democratic legislators.

The bill's primary sponsors include state Reps. Cecil Brockman of High Point and Amos Quick of Greensboro.

The bill was filed almost five months after Charlotte police fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old black man.  That incident was followed by several protests, and some residents accused the police of profiling Scott.

Winston-Salem Police Chief Barry Rountree told the Winston-Salem Journal his agency already has a policy on bias-free policing.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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