(a) For the purpose of this section, “profiling” means the interdiction, detention, arrest or other disparate treatment of an individual because of a characteristic or status.
(b) No employee of the City of Princeton, or any other person serving under the auspices of the City of Princeton, shall engage in profiling. The detention of an individual based on any noncriminal factor or combination of noncriminal factors is inconsistent with this section.
(c) The physical characteristics of an individual shall not be the sole factor in determining the existence of probable case to place in custody or arrest an individual or in constituting a reasonable and articulable suspicion that an offense has been or is being committed so as to justify the detention of an individual or the investigatory stop of a motor vehicle.
(d) Police officers may consider a person’s apparent age when investigating a possible curfew violation, or other juvenile offenses, and when they have been alerted to look for suspects and repeat offenders that fit a particular description.
(e) (1) All departments of the City are directed to adopt a written policy that prohibits the stopping, detention, search or disparate treatment of any person when such action is solely motivated by considerations of race, color, ethnicity, age, gender or sexual orientation. Said policy to be adopted within ninety days of passage of this section, and shall include a procedure by which persons shall complain of a violation of this section.
(2) The Princeton Police Department is directed to develop and promulgate, with the assistance and advice of the City Attorney, a form to record and retain the following information:
A. The number of persons stopped for traffic violations;
B. The characteristics of race, color, ethnicity, gender and age of such persons, provided that this information will be obtained from the individual’s driver’s license or the officer’s own observation, not from questioning the individual;
C. The nature of the stop (i.e., criminal investigation, motor vehicle investigation, or equipment violation);
D. Whether a warning, citation or an arrest was made;
E. Whether the individual or vehicle was searched during the stop;
F. The law assumed to be violated; and
G. Any additional information that the officer may deem appropriate for the situation.
(3) The Princeton Police Department is directed to develop and promulgate, with the assistance and advice of the City Attorney, a printed form to be used to report complaints by persons who believe they have been subjected to a motor vehicle stop by a Princeton Police Officer, solely on the basis of their race, color, ethnicity, age, gender or sexual orientation.
(4) Each Princeton Police Officer is directed to fully complete the form developed pursuant to subsection (e)(2) hereof after stopping a person or vehicle. All said forms so completed are to be provided to the Officer’s shift supervisor at the end of every shift.
(5) All forms completed pursuant to subsection (e)(2) hereof are to be maintained by the Princeton Police Department, and compiled into reports, in accordance with directives set forth in the Profiling Policy adopted and implemented by the Princeton Police Department pursuant to subsection (e)(1) hereof.
(f) Any member of the Princeton Police Department, or agent thereof, who in good faith records traffic stop information pursuant to the requirements of this section, shall not be held civilly liable for the act of recording such information unless the officer’s conduct was unreasonable or reckless.
(g) Any violation of this section, or the reporting requirements therein, by any employee of the City of Princeton, will constitute a violation of the Personnel Policies of the City of Princeton, and formal disciplinary proceedings will be brought against said member.
(h) Any violation of this section will not be subject to any penalties set forth in Section 501.99. (Passed 1-14-02.)