Minneapolis cops to start reporting race in stop-searches

Minneapolis police officers will soon be required to report more information about the people they stop and search.

The new policy, which will include the race of the person stopped, was recommended by the city's Police Conduct Oversight Commission, a civilian advisory group. Earlier this year, the commission examined a sample of police stops and found that officers rarely noted the race of the people they stopped and rarely documented the reasons for the stops.

Many civilian complaints are made by people who claim officers unfairly stopped them because of their race, said Jenny Singleton, an oversight panel commissioner.

"In the national climate that we're in right now, where there are a lot of racial tensions, it's important to be able to track racial data especially so we can make sure that stop-and-frisks are not being carried out in a discriminatory manner," she said.

Police officials say the new policy will require some changes to the department's computer system.

Under the new policy, officers will also be required to enter the subject's gender and the location of the stop before they can clear the call, police department spokesperson Scott Seroka said in a statement.

The policy should be in place by the end of the year provided the computer system can be altered in order to handle the new information by then, he added.