LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California today stepped up its campaign to make available brochures in English, Spanish and Arabic advising people about their rights when stopped by the FBI, police or INS officials. The pamphlet ? "Know Your Rights: What to Do If You're Stopped by the Police, the FBI, the INS or the Customs Service" ? contains information for citizens and non-citizens alike. It is intended to inform those who might become innocent targets caught in the Justice Department's increasingly expanding dragnet. The FBI recently announced they are seeking to interview over 5,000 men who have entered the United States on non-immigrant visas from January 1, 2000 to the present.

"These brochures will not only inform, but reassure people of their rights when speaking to law enforcement," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU/SC. "We are concerned by Attorney General Ashcroft's announcement that the FBI will be questioning thousands of young men from Middle Eastern countries simply because of where they are from and not based on suspicion ? this sets a very dangerous precedent. The probability that innocent people will have their rights trampled upon is very troubling; when you cast such a wide net inevitably a good number of people with no connection to terrorism will be caught in it, we don't want to do something that later generations will have to apologize for."

"While we recognize that interviews are necessary in conducting an investigation," said Michel Shehadeh, West Coast Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), "we are troubled by the fact that this list seems to target people on the basis of their age, gender and national origin. These pamphlets will inform people of their rights and help minimize the potential for civil liberties abuses."

The ACLU/SC immediately met with Arab-American and Muslim community groups to discuss concerns within those communities in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. In response to reports of discrimination against Muslims and Arab-Americans after September 11, the ACLU/SC set up a Hotline to register harassment and discrimination complaints and created the 'Know Your Rights' brochures.

The ACLU has expressed concern that some people currently under investigation have been detained and held without notification of family members or access to legal council. A coalition of civil liberties, human rights and electronic privacy organizations joined the ACLU in filing a Freedom of Information Act request for information about the detainees on October 29, 2001. The Justice Department has not answered the request.

The "Know Your Rights" brochures are available at the ACLU/SC office and can be obtained by calling the discrimination Hotline at 213/977-5291. Alternatively, the brochures can be downloaded at the ACLU/SC Homepage.

LOS ANGELES - A California Court of Appeal today held that a law criminalizing "false" complaints against police officers violates the First Amendment. This is the first court of appeal decision to address the constitutionality of Penal Code ﾌ_148.6, which the ACLU has been fighting because of its chilling effect on legitimate citizen complaints of police misconduct

"This is a great victory for free speech," said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California who submitted an amicus brief and argued the case. "Today's decision clarifies that Californians have right NOT to remain silent. This ruling clears the way for victims and witnesses of police abuse to inform authorities, without fear of being criminally prosecuted."

Penal Code ﾌ_148.6 makes it a crime to file a knowingly false complaint of police misconduct. Though ostensibly targeted only at false complaints, today's decision in People v. Stanistreet recognizes that the law has a tendency to chill truthful complaints of police misconduct - especially since the very police departments accused of misconduct will be determining the truth or falsity of such complaints.

Today's decision holds that Penal Code ﾌ_148.6 discriminates based on content, by targeting citizen complaints about the police for unfavorable treatment. By selectively targeting citizen complaints against police officers -- and not firefighters, paramedics, teachers, elected officials or anyone else ? the law violates the First Amendment.

The ACLU has been fighting against laws that target citizen complaints against police officers since 1997. So far, three federal district courts have held unconstitutional either Penal Code ﾌ_148.6 or its companion civil statute, Civil Code ﾌ_47.5 which allows civil defamation actions against those who complain about police misconduct.

"We are very pleased with today's decision," stated Daniel Tokaji. "This law was a crude attempt to turn back the clock on progress toward improving communication between the police and the community. It is very important that we continue the fight to preserve the open channel of communications between citizens and the police departments that serve them, by making sure that people who file citizen complaints are not subject to retaliatory civil or criminal actions."

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California clarified to Los Angeles City Council today its stance on the collection of racial profiling data by the LAPD, which is a requirement under the federal consent decree.

Staff Attorney Catherine Lhamon provided the following statement to members of the City Council:

I wish to clarify the ACLU of Southern California's position on the collection of LAPD racial profiling data, which was mischaracterized in yesterday's Daily News. The ACLU-SC strongly supports collection of LAPD racial profiling data as quickly as practicable, as well as full compliance with the terms of the consent decree negotiated between the City and the United States Department of Justice. As we have repeated time and again, we believe the persons living, working, and traveling in Los Angeles deserve review of police practices to ensure that race does not determine their treatment at the hands of our police. It is essential that data collection not be delayed.

As the consent decree requires, the LAPD must collect comprehensive data concerning the putative reason for a motorist or pedestrian stop. The LAPD must record not only the apparent race of the persons stopped, but also identifying information for the officers involved and the date and time of the stop, the reason for the stop, and the circumstances of the stop, including whether the persons were searched and why and whether the persons consented to such a search. This crucial information begins the important process of monitoring police practices to hold our officers accountable to the public.

Certainly the methods for analysis of the data, once collected, are also critically important, and the public deserves information regarding the various options for data analysis, including information concerning which data collection methods are already in use in other cities and states. We remain bewildered by closed-door exclusionary practices that prevent the community from participating in key components to implementing meaningful police reform, and we expect that the LAPD and the City will immediately begin involving community members in the process of determining how to analyze the data to be collected. But that imperative to involve the community cannot impede the progress of the actual collection. The consent decree mandates that the collection begin by November 1, 2001, and our community deserves nothing less.