State leaders support terror bill

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ALBANY, N.Y., June 9 (UPI) -- Several New York-area leaders reportedly support a "terrorist profiling" bill allowing the use of race and ethnicity to stop or search a person.

"We need to protect New Yorkers, we need to protect Americans, and this is common-sense legislation," said Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, who introduced the bill last month, reports the New York Post.

Hikind said the bill, drawn up because of continuing threats, would free police from hesitating to stop potential terror suspects out of concern for reprimands or lawsuits, the Post said.

"We have to use whatever tools that we would not ordinarily use. In a time of war, we do things that we would not," said Hikind, who in the past had voted against racial profiling, the report said.

Supporters of the bill joined Hikind Thursday near New York's Herald Square. The bill also has been introduced in the state Senate.