‘Bland bill’ adds minority protections

But critics oppose curtailing of officers’ ability to stop drivers

A Texas lawmaker has filed legislation aimed at expanding protections for minorities and the mentally ill during interactions with law enforcement.

House Bill 2702, the so-called Sandra Bland bill, comes more than a year and a half after Waller County jailers found the 28-yearold dead in her cell from what coroners ruled a suicide. Bland had been jailed after a controversial and heated traffic stop in July 2015 near Prairie View A&M University, her alma mater.

“Sandra Bland died in jail because our jails are not as safe as they could be,” said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, in a statement about the legislation that was filed Thursday. “And ... people who have yet to be proven guilty and even those proven guilty should not be subject to the dangers found in our jails.”

Bland’s arrest and death prompted a torrent of criticism aimed at the Texas Department of Public Safety and led to misdemeanor charges for the trooper, Brian Encinia, who pulled her over on July 10, 2015, after he said she failed to signal a lane change. The Waller County Sheriff ’s Office also came under substantial criticism after discoveries that

jailers did not watch her closely enough and did not follow proper procedures classifying her as a potentially high-risk inmate.

The legislation would broaden what qualifies as racial and ethnic profiling; require treatment and diversion from jail for substance abusers or people deemed to be in having a mental health crisis; and create more training and reporting requirements for county jails and law enforcement.

Bland’s advocates hailed the drafted legislation, which still must be referred to the committee and face a vote in both the House and Senate.

Anti-profiling effort

The bill requires officers to complete a de-escalation training program, including “techniques for limiting the use of force,” and attend a 40-hour training on crisis intervention techniques for “interaction with persons with mental impairments.”

Coleman’s legislation would require law enforcement agencies to develop a written policy on racial discrimination and require departments to implement and provide a complaint process for anyone stopped for a traffic violation if they believe they are being racially profiled by the officer.

For the first profiling offense, the officer would be required to attend counseling and training; after that, they would receive a suspension “not less than six months.”

The bill would also require agencies to collect data on the detainee’s race or ethnicity, whether a search was conducted, whether physical force was used and if a disproportionate number of drivers were stopped compared to the racial makeup of the county.

Law enforcement advocates have expressed serious reservations about the legislation, which could hinder its passage.

A ‘blanket measure’

Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, said did not oppose measures in the bill aimed at devoting more resources for training officers or jailers who interact with the mentally ill, he said, particularly grant programs for smaller counties to meet those burdens.

“The death occurred there in the jail, which is the lowest end of the pecking order in law enforcement in Texas, and those people have the least amount of training and least amount of professional standards,” he said Sunday. “And it seems so it me that ought to be our focus instead of some other political focus that suits [politicians] needs better.”

However, he vowed to oppose any bill that would curtail officers’ ability to stop motorists and called Coleman’s bill, as written currently, “punitive.”

“There is another Texas out there, a violent seething, criminal underbelly,” he said. “And the officers are tasked noticing that dirty car with the clean license plate, the child who doesn’t fit the age of people in the car, and other kind of criminal profiles that we hope officers are doing ... it’s not a storybook out there, a storybook world where all the cops are doing the wrong things. It’s the criminals doing the wrong things.”

The bill would bar officers from arresting an individual for a fine-only misdemeanor and from conducting a “roadside investigation” during a traffic stop without evidence that a crime beyond the traffic violation occurred.

The bill also would expand officer accountability in violent jail incidents. Sheriffs would have to report “serious incidents” — suicides, deaths, serious injuries, use of force incidents and sexual assaults — to the Commission on Jail Standards monthly, where the data would be made public and would establish a minimum standard for acts of force.

Mental illness resources

Law enforcement agencies would also be required to implement a system for inmates to file complaints against guards and compile data on those complaints.

In the case of an inmate’s death, the agency operating the jail where the death occurred would be required to hand over all evidence to a Department of Public Safety-appointed thirdparty agency to investigate.

The bill also expands care for mentally ill inmates. Police would first be required to make an effort to send people to treatment before making an arrest if they are having a mental health crisis or experiencing substance abuse while committing a nonviolent misdemeanor.

County jails would also be required to guarantee inmates the same medications they would be taking if not in jail and provide round-the-clock access to a mental health professional, as well as ensure regular cell checks enforced by an electronic clocking system.