Biased-Based Policing Policy Statement
It is the policy of the Apopka Police Department to prohibit bias based profiling in all police-initiated actions. These include all investigative detentions, field contacts, traffic contacts, arrests, searches, asset seizures and forfeiture efforts. Members’ actions will be based on a standard of reasonable suspicion or probable cause as required by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and statutory authority. Members must be able to articulate specific facts, circumstances and conclusions, which support reasonable suspicion for an investigative detention or traffic stop, or probable cause for arrest. Members shall not consider race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, gender identity or sexual orientation in establishing either reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or as a basis for requesting consent to search.
Criminal profiling is a legitimate tool in the fight against crime. It is an investigative method in which a member, through observation of activities and environment, identifies suspicious behavior by individuals and develops a legal basis, consistent with the Fourth Amendment, to detain and question. However, illegal profiling refers to a decision by a member to stop, detain, interdict, or search an individual based on the race, color, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, or national origin.
The Department prohibits illegal profiling as a law enforcement tactic and will not tolerate or condone its use by any member.
