SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1892        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1549

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Sonia Chang-Diaz

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to traffic and pedestrian stop data.

_______________

PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1892        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1549

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

_______________

An Act relative to traffic and pedestrian stop data.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

The General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, are hereby amended by inserting after chapter 22E the following new chapter:-

Chapter 22F.

Section 1. For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(1) “Law enforcement entity” means any state, municipal, transit, college or university law enforcement officer or state, municipal, college or university police department or a police officer acting on behalf of such state, municipal, college or university police department.

(2) “Receipt” means a contemporaneous record of any traffic or pedestrian stop, to be provided to the subject of the stop. A receipt shall at a minimum include the following data: the reason for the stop; the date, time, and duration of the encounter; the street address or approximate location of the encounter; and the name and badge number of the officer initiating the stop. The receipt shall also include information about how to register commendations or complaints regarding the encounter.

(3) “Driver” means an operator of a motor vehicle, motorized bicycle, or motorized scooter under this chapter, or a bicycle, scooter, or other vehicle traveling on a way.

(4) “Frisk” means a pat-down to locate a weapon.

(5) “Executive office”, the executive office of public safety and security.

(6) “Secretary”, the secretary of public safety and security.

(7) “Pedestrian”, means an individual walking on a road, in a public transit station, or in another public space.

Section 2.

(A) Data collection

(1) The secretary of public safety and security shall create and update as may be appropriate an instrument to record statistical data for the police-civilian contacts covered by this Act. This instrument shall, at minimum, include the data required to be collected by subsection (A)(2). The secretary shall give due regard to census figures when setting forth the race and ethnicity categories in the instrument and shall consider providing guidance about the manner in which race and ethnicity information is identified and designated and collected, including by individuals’ self-reporting of such categories; provided that, in all cases, the method of identification of such data specified by the secretary must be the same across all law enforcement entities and among different stop scenarios. The Massachusetts state police shall use this instrument to collect data. Other law enforcement entities shall have the authority to create such data collection instruments for their own use, provided that any such instrument (a) includes the data required to be collected by subsection (A)(2) and (b) is submitted to and approved by the secretary as meeting the requirements of this Act.

(2) Whenever an individual is stopped, frisked, or searched by any state, municipal, transit, college or university law enforcement officer, including any time a frisk or search is consensual, the officer shall record the following data: 

(a) reason for any stop;

(b) date, time, and duration of the encounter;

(c) street address or approximate location of the encounter;

(d) the number of occupants of the vehicle, if stop was a vehicle;

(e) race, ethnicity, gender, and approximate age of the driver and/or pedestrian and any person searched as part of that stop, which shall be based on the officer’s observation and perception and shall not be requested of the person unless otherwise required by law or regulation;

(f) whether the driver and/or pedestrian, and any person searched, has limited English language proficiency, based on the officer’s observation and perception.

(g) whether any investigatory action was initiated, including a frisk or a search of an individual or vehicle, and whether any such investigatory action was conducted with consent;

(h) whether contraband was found or any materials were seized; 

(i) whether the stop resulted in a warning, citation, arrest, or no subsequent action; 

(j) the name and badge number of the officer initiating the stop.

(3) For any stop that does not result in the issuance of a citation, the officer shall provide a receipt to the subject at the conclusion of the stop.

(4) Each police department, not less frequently than quarterly, shall review each officer’s stop and search documentation to ensure compliance with this Act, review the entire department’s stop and search data, examine and analyze any racial or other disparities, and formulate and implement an appropriate response. 

(5) In the event that any two quarterly reviews of department-wide data in a one year period evidence racial or other profiling as defined by Section 83 of Chapter 253 of the Acts of 2020, the department shall file a corrective action plan with the Peace Officer Training and Standards Commission.

(B) Electronic data systems

Subsequent to passage of this act, any electronic systems developed for law enforcement entities to issue citations, or to gather, record, report, and study information concerning vehicle accidents, violations, traffic or pedestrian stops, or citations, shall be designed to:

(i) collect the data described in subsection (A) of this section;

(ii) automatically transmit such data to the executive office of public safety and security as required by this section;

(iii) electronically generate citations and police encounter receipts. 

Upon the adoption of such an electronic system by any police department, the department shall record the data set forth in subsection (B) for all traffic and pedestrian stops. The department shall transmit all such data by electronic means to the executive office of public safety and security, at intervals to be determined by the Secretary but not less than semi-annually. 

(C) Data analysis and publication

All data collected pursuant to this chapter shall be analyzed and made publicly available consistent with the standards described in section 10(f) of Chapter 122 of the Acts of 2019. The analysis and report, and the collected data, excluding any data identifying a person by name or address, shall be deemed a public record, and shall be published on the website of the executive office of public safety and security. The report shall include a multivariate analysis of the collected data in accordance with generally accepted statistical standards that seeks, to the extent possible, to measure the roles of race, ethnicity, gender, and age as factors in law enforcement entities’ interactions with civilians, including but not limited to the frequency with which individuals are stopped, frisked, searched, cited, or arrested. Such analysis shall include consideration of the demographics of the population residing in or traveling through a particular locale, local crime rates, the frequency with which encounters result in seizure of contraband or arrest, and comparisons among similarly-situated officers.

(D) Data availability 

Any individual charged with a criminal offense based on evidence or statements obtained as the result of a traffic or pedestrian stop shall have the right to obtain data collected pursuant to this section concerning any officer who participated in the stop or the search that resulted in the seizure of evidence, from the executive office of public safety and security and from the police department of the officer(s) involved in the stop or search; provided that information revealing the name, street address, date of birth, and driver’s license number of individuals involved in stops who are not law enforcement officers or their agents shall not be disclosed; and provided further that information revealing the home address, date of birth, personal telephone number or any personal identifying information other than the name, badge number, and department of a law enforcement officer shall not be disclosed. Requests for such data may specify a single or multiple incidents, dates, locations or any other combination of data collected pursuant to subsection (A).

(E) Enforcement

The attorney general may bring a civil action in the superior court for injunctive or other appropriate equitable relief to enforce the provisions of this section.  Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit an individual’s rights or remedies, including, but not limited to, a civil action for a violation of constitutional rights under section 11I of chapter 12 of the General Laws, as so appearing, or 42 U.S.C. section 1983 or motions for suppression or dismissal or other relief in a criminal case.

Section 3.Subsection (A) shall take effect 12 months from the effective date of this act, at which time chapter 228 of the acts of 2000 shall be repealed. 

Subsections (C) and (D) shall take effect at such time as the executive office of public safety and security makes available to law enforcement agencies an electronic system described in subsection (B).