Building Public Confidence: Racial Profiling in Nebraska

Nebraska began collecting racial profiling data in 2002. In 2012, the Nebraska Legislature renewed the law that mandated the data collection and expanded the Nebraska Crime Commission's authority to act on the data from local agencies. According to the ACLU report, the Crime Commission has yet to use their authority.

The ACLU report focuses on three findings:

The ACLU has several recommendations for Nebraska agencies:

• People of color are more likely to be pulled over. Black drivers in Omaha are pulled over twice as often as they should be according to census data. In Lincoln, black drivers are pulled over three times as often.
• People of color are more likely to be arrested. A white driver has a 1 in 48 chance of being arrested. Drivers of color have a 1 in 13 chance of being arrested. The data showed that there was not a significant difference in the actual offenses committed by the drivers.
• People of color are more likely to be subjected to searches. 1 in 50 white drivers were searched while 1 in 30 drivers of color were searched.
  • Mandate anti-bias trainings through the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center.
  • Bring law enforcement complaint processes into alignment with Department of Justice recommendations.
  • Follow Department of Justice recommendations for use of body-worn cameras and dash cameras.