DES MOINES, Iowa - Governor Kim Reynolds is holding a meeting on criminal justice reform Monday.
The gathering includes Iowa City NAACP President Kevin Sanders and will feature a discussion on local anti-profiling ordinances. Des Moines passed an ordinance in June after widespread protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
The meeting will also focus on pretextual stops, which is the practice of using traffic stops to search for other criminal activities. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled last year that police can charge drivers with crimes they weren’t initially stopped for.
Civil rights groups have argued that local anti-profiling ordinances need more safeguards to prevent police misconduct. The city manager of Des Moines will be on a panel with the mayor and police chief of Cedar Rapids and the police chief of University Heights.
The Governor’s FOCUS Committee on Criminal Justice Reform is set to take place on Zoom from 10 am until 1 pm.