Across Alabama and the nation, municipalities and counties are paying millions of dollars to defend police officers who have violated the rights of citizens.

Some of these incidents have become high profile while others remain hidden from the public. Citizens are being made to surrender their rights to officers who have neither reasonable/articulable suspicion or probable cause to stop or search them, resulting in a loss of citizen trust for law enforcement.

The legal fees, verdicts and the large settlements that can result from a police officer’s violation of citizen rights do not only come from various mistakes by officers such as illegal searches and seizures or excessive uses of force, but when the officers are guilty of serious misconduct such as forcing citizens to surrender to interrogations and unreasonable detainments when the citizen is under no legal obligation to surrender.

It is during these times that some officers go fishing for the slightest thing to give them cause to detain or arrest.

“Fishing” is a term used to describe an interrogation and detainment performed by an officer who does not have reasonable or articulable suspicion that a citizen has done anything wrong. This occurs most often when the officer uses his or her blue lights, badge and request for backup to paralyze a citizen with fear so the officer can look for or “fish” for a reason to detain the citizen.

Rather than de-escalating a situation, fishing expeditions often turn into heated confrontations where the citizen is detained or arrested and or charged with a crime that is later dismissed. But damage is done.

Fishing serves many purposes but the main outcome is to make a criminal out of someone who has not committed a crime prior to being stopped by police. We – an HBCU focus group studying the issue – feel that officers should have a duty, as in Miranda situations, to inform a citizen of his or her rights when being asked by an officer to do something in which they are under no legal obligation to do.

If the officer lacks a reasonable suspicion that a citizen is involved in criminal activity, the officer should be required to inform the citizen of such and inform them that any search or request for ID is not required but is instead voluntary. A “Stop Fishing Clause” will cut down on the confusion that has led to so many needless and illegal confrontations with police.

While cities have made a practice of meeting financial needs by excessive tickets, the cost of this practice far outweighs its benefits and besides, citizens do have rights. Violations of those rights are critical offenses against the republic.

We hope to bring legislation to make our vision real. Our proposal is offered in the name of protecting procedural justice and building trust between the community and the police.

Dr. Robert White is a faculty member at Alabama State University and pastor of Montgomery City of Refuge Church in Montgomery, Ala.