University Heights makes history with first-in-the-state ban on profiling by police

The University Heights City Council took a historic step Tuesday night after it unanimously voted to approve a ban on racial and other forms of profiling by its police officers.

The ordinance, the first of its kind in Iowa, requires implicit and explicit bias training for officers, provides funding for data collection software and creates an advisory board to review complaints.

"I think this is a great deal for the state of Iowa, not only for University Heights," said Kevin Sanders, president of the Iowa City NAACP chapter. "The city council and the police department have set a huge precedent for the rest of the state, and you are all to be commended for your efforts."

READ: University Heights could be first in Iowa to make profiling illegal

City councilor Silvia Quezada thanked members of the University Heights community, the city council, the police chief and organizations like the NAACP for providing input into the drafting of the ordinance.

Quezada said she started reaching out to different agencies last summer, after considering an investigation by The Gazette regarding University Heights' "extraordinarily high rate" of writing speeding tickets.

Information in a confidential file, she said, also provided reasoning to pursue an ordinance banning racial and all forms of profiling in the police department.

Quezada, councilor Nick Herbold and Police Chief Nate Petersen said there are currently no cases involving profiling being investigated by the city, adding officials wanted to be "ahead of the curve" by passing the ordinance.

In addition to making profiling illegal, the measure provides funding for new software in the department that will streamline record keeping and data extraction, at a cost of $1,800 . The city also set aside $5,000 for Christopher Barnum, a criminal justice professor of St. Ambrose University, to assist the department in managing the collected data.

Barnum conducted research on Iowa City Police Department's disproportionate minority contacts and found that, on average, an Iowa City police officer was about twice as likely to stop a "minority driver" rather than other drivers during the 2016 study period.

That year, the rate of disproportionate stops and arrests were trending downward. In 2017, his report found, the rate of disproportionate arrests increased.

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Petersen said it will take at least a year of data collecting before University Heights, which has a population of about 1,070 and is about 90 percent white, will have enough information to make assessments.

"There's a lot of work to be done," Sanders said. "But we're taking a step to move in the right direction." 

Reach Hillary Ojeda at 319-339-7345, hojeda@press-citizen.com or follow her on Twitter at @hillarymojeda.