A crowd packed the Des Moines City Council chambers Monday night.

For more than an hour, speakers made their case for why Des Moines should write a racial profiling ban into law rather than relying on police department policy to guide officers.

They say an ordinance would be taken more seriously by police officers and provide more accountability for those who fail to follow the rules.

It was the second time since November that residents have made the request.

“We are here to say, again, policy is not enough,” said Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP. “We need an ordinance and we need it right away.”

The City Council instructed staff to draft an ordinance that would ban racial profiling by all city employees, not just the police department.

It will consider the ordinance at a future meeting.

However, adopting an ordinance banning racial profiling could leave the city legally exposed, City Attorney Jeff Lester told members of the City Council during a Monday morning workshop.

Racial profiling is already banned by police department’s policy, he said, and that police includes disciplinary actions for violators.

“My thought would be, what do you gain?” Lester said. “We’re not opposed to an ordinance. I just don’t know what the gain would be. The concern would be that you would potentially create another liability for the city.”

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Led by representatives from Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, the group in November outlined a series of changes they want to see, including the racial profiling ban and the creation of a citizen review board to scrutinize discrimination complaints.

They also want Des Moines police to:

Complete training on implicit bias, data collection and de-escalation;

Stop using minor traffic stops as an excuse to pull over someone they find suspicious because of their race or sex;

Make marijuana possession its “lowest” police enforcement priority.

“You haven’t gotten back with us,” said Herbert Williams Jr., one of the speakers. “We’re kind of waiting for a reply.”

Laurel Clinton told the council that it needs to listen when residents say that racial profiling is a problem in the city.

Clinton’s son and another black man filed a lawsuit in August against the Des Moines Police Department, claiming they were racially profiled by two white officers who pulled over their car for no apparent reason and handcuffed one of them while searching the vehicle without a warrant or probable cause.

A second lawsuit filed in August by DeJuan Haynes, a black man from West Des Moines, claimed he was racially profiled by two other Des Moines officers when he was pulled over and searched.

Other speakers accused the city of not making racial profiling a priority.

“I can see folks getting upset,” Chris Robinson told council members. “You think you’re upset? How do you think the folks of color feel, putting up with the racial profiling?”

Councilman Josh Mandelbaum told the audience that the city is making progress.

He referenced the Bridging the Gap initiative led by the Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Commission that came up with its own slate of recommendations to make the city more equitable.

“I think it’s important that you push us,” he said. “We do need to hear from everyone in our community, and we need to understand what people’s experiences are like.”