The ACLU is looking for Louisianans who feel they were the victim of racist policing to help them file lawsuits challenging discriminatory policies.
ACLU Louisiana Legal Director Nora Ahmed says due to the statute of limitations they’re seeking individuals who’ve suffered that kind of incident on or after May 1st of this year.
“We are very interested in individuals who are of the view that they have been subjected to racial profiling or harassment in some way,” says Ahmed.
This includes racially motivated traffic stops, searches, seizures, detainments, and incidents where police dogs were used to assault people on racial grounds.
Ahmed says they’re looking to compile data and to use those racially-based law enforcement interactions to challenge discriminatory departments in court.
“That would be something that we would like to talk to them further about, to understand the frequency of their interactions with various police officers, and what it is that is making them view the interactions themselves as being a product of racist policing,” says Ahmed.
The recruitment initiative is part of ACLU Louisiana’s Justice Lab project that includes the participation of 35 law firms and 14 law schools working together to challenge racist criminal justice policies.
Ahmed says the ACLU understands many fear retaliation from law enforcement if they speak up, but if you come forward they’ll have your back.
“Initial contact with us would be confidential, that is not information that we are going to share with anyone, and we would continue to have conversations with any individual who contacted us about those fears,” says Ahmed.
Interested participants can reach out via email at Justicelab@LAACLU.org.
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