Missouri lawmakers propose racial bias training for police

(Reuters) - Two Missouri state lawmakers, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, said on Tuesday they proposed legislation that would require police be trained to avoid racial bias, aiming to stop the unfair targeting of minorities.

The Fair and Impartial Policing Act, sponsored by Missouri Senator Jamilah Nasheed, a Democrat, and Representative Shamed Dogan, a Republican, also would enact measures to hold officers and law enforcement agencies accountable when they use racially biased practices, according to an ACLU of Missouri statement.

"Transparency is the friend, not the enemy of good policing," Dogan said in a statement. He said the act would provide stronger analysis and statistics needed to "recognize and applaud those who protect and serve all communities equally."

The introduction of the measure comes at a time of increased scrutiny of the treatment of minorities by law enforcement across the country as a result of high-profile killings of blacks by mainly white police officers in Ferguson, Missouri; Chicago and other parts of the country.

Over the past 15 years, the Missouri Attorney General's annual vehicle stops report has found that black drivers are almost twice as likely to be stopped, searched and arrested as white drivers, the ACLU of Missouri said.

The proposed legislation would expand reporting requirements to keep track of how often minority pedestrians, well as minority drivers, are stopped.

Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, had been walking when he was stopped and fatally shot by a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, in August of 2014, setting off nationwide protests. The "Don't Shoot Coalition," which has played a role in leading protests, joined in announcing the bill on Tuesday.

The Missouri legislative session begins on Wednesday. Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri, said he was "very optimistic" the bill would be fairly considered.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Dan Grebler)