New York State law enforcement authorities have been told that they may not question legal offenders regarding their religious affiliation, it was revealed today in an exchange of correspondence between Governor Dewey’s office and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. The action followed representations made by the ADL in connection with several incidents upstate where traffic violators were asked if they were “Protestant, Catholic or Jewish?”
In a letter to the ADL, George M. Shapiro, counsel to the Governor, said that some local law enforcement officials apparently were following obsolete procedures in interrogating law violators. He added that local enforcement authorities have now been advised that “inquiries regarding religious affiliation are not required or authorized for any purposes by the criminal statistical reporting provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.”
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