LOS ANGELES, CA - City Council Members were asked to vote today in support of the newly gutted racial profiling bill, but raised questions about the bill's efficacy and its lack of a data collection mandate. The Council referred the motion to committee.

"There's obviously been a lot of behind the scenes commotion to try to generate some last-minute support for this mistaken approach," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California, "but the City Council didn't bite. They saw that this new bill is a cynical ploy instead of substantive action. Business cards, diversity training, and current complaint lines are not in themselves enough'that's what the LAPD does now, and it hasn't worked. We need sound, statewide, standardized data so we can identify the worst problem spots and monitor them on an ongoing basis. That creates a regular system of accountability - these are the systems we so desperately need here in Los Angeles, and which Parks and his LAPD refuse to give us."

The Bill, SB 1389, formerly contained a data collection mandate. The current version simply restates an established fact of law - that racial profiling is illegal, and requires law enforcement agencies to institute a system similar to the one put in place by the LAPD.

"Why is the most corrupt and out-of-control police department in the state calling the plays on one of the most pressing civil rights and police practices issues of our day?" asked Ripston. "The LAPD should be held up as a model of how not to institute meaningful civilian complaint procedures - not as the blueprint for our entire state."

Four of the five largest law enforcement agencies in the state have agreed to collect data, leaving LAPD out of step with its counterparts.

LOS ANGELES, CA - "Governor Davis and Senator Murray have colluded in creating a truly empty piece of legislation," said Catherine Lhamon, staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern

California. "Racial profiling in traffic stops is a major issue in this state, a real problem for which Californians of color need a real solution."

Governor Davis and Senator Murray today announced that Senator Murray's racial profiling statistics bill, SB 1389, which would have required the state to gather statistics from law enforcement agencies on racial profiling in traffic stops, has been gutted and replaced with a bill that purports to make racial profiling illegal.

The new bill will also require officers to give their business cards to motorists to whom they do not give a ticket. The agreement between the Governor and the Senator, according to the Governor's office, will also include an expansion of current diversity training efforts.

"The new bill is insufficient," said Lhamon. "Gathering statistics will create knowledge and accountability. Police officers handing out business cards doesn't accomplish that."

"The Governor's proposal relies on practices that in themselves have proven insufficient to the task: more diversity training, married to current complaint systems," said Lhamon. "More and

better training is a good idea, but by itself it's not enough. You have to determine that training has an overall effect on the problem'and you can't do that without statistics."

"Every day as Rampart unfolds, we learn more about the nightmares of a system that asks law enforcement agencies to police themselves," said Lhamon. "In that context, asking the people of Los Angeles and California to trust that police will simply stop racial profiling without any real system of oversight or accountability is absurd."

Today the ACLU of Southern California filed a class-action lawsuit, Romero v. City of Montebello, to end the City of Montebello's discriminatory allotment of more park space and time for boys' baseball leagues than for a girls' softball league. The private firm Arnold & Porter joins the ACLU as pro bono co-counsel in the case.
The case is filed on behalf of eight girls who are members of the Montebello Ponytail Girls' Softball Association, including Stephanie Romero, 14, who has played pitcher and third base in the girls' league for seven seasons and who dreams of playing on the United States Olympic Team; Jesy Wrtaza, 9, shortstop and second and third base person for four seasons, who also dreams of a college, Olympic, and professional softball career; and six other named plaintiffs who represent the 450 other girls who participate in the league, as well as countless girls who will join the league in the future.
"For years, the Ponytail girls have been forced to play softball in a single, crowded diamond at a public park side-by-side a thriving boys' baseball league. Although the Ponytails have continued to grow, their access to public playing fields has remained frozen due to the City's grossly unequal allocation of field space to girls' sports programs. This is especially remarkable given City officials' express recognition of this gender-based disparity," noted Rocio Cordoba, ACLU of Southern California staff attorney.
The Montebello Ponytail Girls' Softball Association, an all-girls softball league and part of a nationwide network of girls' Ponytail leagues, has grown rapidly over the last two decades to over 450 members ages 5 to 18. The Ponytails share Grant Rae Park, a large public playing field, with the Montebello Baseball Association, a boys' baseball league. Despite near parity in terms of size, the two leagues have starkly different levels of access to playing facilities. The Ponytails use one full-size diamond for half a year and a small T-ball diamond for six early morning weekend hours per week. The boys' league has access to three regular diamonds and the prime hours for the T-ball diamond. Boys also have pre- and post-season access to the park, while girls do not. Outside of softball season, there are no girls' athletic programs at all utilizing the park.
This inequitable scheduling system forces the Ponytails to stack their games so closely together that the players have insufficient time to warm up and cool down, thus increasing their risk of injury; forces girls' teams to travel to other cities during the months of August to January in order to play post-season games; requires girls to play games at inconvenient times, and gives the Ponytails less access to a concession stand, which is an essential fund-raising mechanism.
"Space and time are fundamental resources for athletic teams," said Cordoba, "and the resources in Montebello are allocated in a completely lopsided way. This has a profound impact on the girls as players and, ultimately, on their development as young women. Research consistently shows that participation in athletics helps girls grow up strong and healthy, both physically and psychologically. The City of Montebello is sending a clear message to its girls. Its unequal system brands girls as inferior, second-class citizens and perpetuates gender-based stereotypes that girls' athletics are somehow less deserving than boys' athletics."
Numerous studies have demonstrated that young women who participate in sports have higher levels of self-esteem, do better in school, are less likely to become pregnant while teenagers, and have fewer problems with drug abuse and eating disorders.
A similar case filed against the City of Los Angeles in 1998 resulted in "Raise the Bar," a landmark citywide program to foster girls' equal access to city sports facilities and programs.
"We need to promote equality for girls' sports throughout the country," said Cordoba. "Schools have been dealing with gender equity issues for decades thanks to Title IX, but cities, outside the scope of Title IX, haven't, for the most part, dealt with these issues as thoroughly. Girls such as the courageous Ponytails players are stepping forward to challenge the disparities they encounter. By monitoring the access cities give to girls' athletics and challenging any inequities, we will help cities understand that they, too, are obligated to treat girls fairly."