Sweeping amendments to a 66-year-old human rights ordinance might make Grand Rapids, Mich. the latest city to try to tackle the epidemic of racially-motivated abuses of emergency services. The planned changes “would make it a criminal misdemeanor to racially profile people of color for ‘participating in their lives.’”

Diversity and Inclusion Manager Patti Caudill said the ordinance is a new concept in Michigan. It isn’t meant to discourage 911 calls, she said. Rather, it’s meant to make people “check their biases” before calling the police.

“Call the police, but if you’re calling because your neighbors are having a barbecue and you’re calling because of some implicit bias because they’re people of color, we don’t want to see that,” she said.
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So how, exactly, does Grand Rapids plan to fight not just the abuse of 911, but the racism that fuels it?

The proposed changes include:

Identifying four primary potential areas of discrimination, which are discriminatory practices in housing, employment, contracting, and bias crime reporting. Each area has its own section in the ordinance.
Adding a “bias crime reporting prohibition” and making it a criminal misdemeanor to racially profile people of color for participating in their lives. That is, no person shall make a police report that is based in whole or in part on an individual’s membership in a protected class and not on a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in consideration of all available facts and the totality of the circumstances.
The River City is hoping that threatening the pocketbooks of would-be BBQ Beckys and Pool Patrol Paulas will make them re-think their choice to dial 911 on a person of color for no reason. Violations would be subject to a $500 fine.