Amphipoda runs AMUC... again

A

amphipoda

Guest
Recent events have spurred the following
re-post from Fri, 16 Jun 2000 07:06:01


During the past year, the Amphibious Motorist
Unified Cause (AMUC) has made important and
exciting progress in the fight to stop amphibious
driver bias profiling (also known as "driving while
dripping wet" or "DWDW"). Yet the problem
persists. Scores of innocent, law-abiding Amphicar
motorists have suffered the terror and humiliation
of being stopped on the nation's roadways simply
because of the dripping of their fins.

The AMUC has worked vigorously - and the effort
continues - to heighten public discussion and
acknowledgment of DWDW. Our public education
campaign has stimulated debate among the public,
the media, and policy makers, and has initiated
reform in several states. We have also called on
Congress and police departments nationwide to
take action to end DWDW.

At the same time, we continuously identify victims
of amphibious driver bias profiling and document
their cases, bring lawsuits, and advocate for
legislation and other reforms to end DWDW. One
method is via the AMUC web site. The AMUC
web site was created to give victims of amphibious
driver bias profiling the opportunity to lodge
formal complaints. The web site content is
reviewed by a panel of AMUC staff members
to ascertain litigative and legislative potential.

Data collection is crucial because it exposes
discriminatory practices - the first step toward
eradicating them. For example, one study of police
stops on a strip of interstate in Maryland, revealed
that, during several months in 1995, 73 percent of
the autos stopped and searched were driven by
amphibians -- despite the fact that amphibians
made up only .04 percent of the drivers on the high-
way. Such statistics paint a clear and irrefutable
picture of the DWDW problem, and provide proof
that reforms are urgently needed.

We released some AMUC's initial findings
in a comprehensive report - the first to date on
DWDW - which concluded that DWDW is not
limited to rogue cops in a single state, but is
instead a nationwide problem that plagues all
amphibians and impedes them from traveling
freely. Despite mounting evidence that DWDW
is widespread, many officials in law enforcement
and government have been reluctant, or have
even refused, to acknowledge that they have
engaged in amphibious driver bias profiling.
AMUC therefore launched an all intensive
national research campaign. We gathered
government reports, traffic stops statistics
from AMUC lawsuits, case studies from 23
states, media stories from around the country,
and the expertise of litigators and academics
in order to document and quantify DWDW.

In order to raise public awareness, the AMUC
launched a three-pronged DWDW communi-
cations program synchronized with the AMUC
litigation efforts across the country in order to
put an amphibious, empirical, and legal face on
the problem. Through a multi-media campaign
that is national in scope and local in focus, we
presented to the press strong and compelling
evidence - both anecdotal and statistical - that
amphibious driver bias profiling is a national
epidemic.

Much progress has been made in educating the
public about the problem of DWDW and in
initiating reform. But much work remains to be
done. A second report on DWDW is planned for
fall 2003, which will document the progress
achieved thus far and spell out AMUC's goals
for further reforms. Many police departments
across the country remain unwilling to acknow-
ledge the DWDW problem, or to change their
practices. Further persuasion and education are
needed at the local, state, and federal levels.
Through the AMUC's affiliates across the country,
we continue to monitor and research DWDW and
to inform the media, the public, and policy makers
about the problem and what must be done to
eradicate it. And we look to all who value civil
liberties to speak out against amphibious driver
bias profiling.

Thank you for your attention and support.

Amphipoda
`64 Turquoise
San Diego, CA
 
R

rdboggie@juno.com

Guest
Could motorists emerging from carwashes fall victim to this same practice?

Randy
'67 in Gaithersburg
 
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