The Tullahoma Police Department (TPD) has adopted an anti-racial profiling policy, as mandated by the State of Tennessee.
Senate Bill No. 6, known as the Racial Profiling Prevention Act, will be effective Jan. 1.
The Racial Profiling Prevention Act states that each law enforcement agency shall adopt a written policy that prohibits racial profiling by its employees. Each agency shall adopt its written policy on or before Jan. 1.
The standard operating procedures document states that racial profiling means the detention or interdiction of an individual in traffic contacts, field contacts, or assert seizure and forfeiture effort solely on the basis of the individual’s actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity or national origin.
The document states that racial profiling is not, however, circumstances in which the officer has information that includes a racial or ethnic descriptor concerning a suspect for a specific crime where that information is reliable and is likely to lead to the discovery of that individual.
According to the SOP document, citizens will only be stopped or detained when there exists ‘reasonable suspicion to believe they have committed, are committing, or about to commit, an infraction of the law. (Tullahoma News)

Tennessee’s unemployment rate for the month of November was 5.6 percent, unchanged from the October rate. That’s according to Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips. The U.S. rate for November was 5.0 percent, also unchanged from October.
Over the past year, Tennessee’s unemployment rate decreased from 6.6 percent to 5.6 percent, while the national rate declined from 5.8 to 5.0 percent.
Total nonfarm employment increased 1,000 jobs from October to November. The largest increases occurred in financial activities, manufacturing, and transportation/warehousing/utilities. Over the year, nonfarm employment increased 48,600 jobs. The largest increases occurred in trade/transportation/utilities, professional/business services, and leisure/hospitality.

Tennessee law enforcement officials kicked off the “Booze It and Lose It” holiday safety campaign on Friday.
The event took place at the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce in Murfreesboro.
Kendell Poole, director of the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office, joined members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol along with neighboring law enforcement agencies in Middle Tennessee.
Law enforcement agencies across Tennessee are out in full force now through Jan. 3 searching for impaired drivers.
The Governor’s Highway Safety Office reminds motorists to plan ahead for a sober ride home before taking part in holiday celebrations this season.
For more information about the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, visit http://www.tntrafficsafety.org .

AAA projects the number of year-end holiday travelers will top 100 million for the first time on record. Nearly one in three Americans (100.5 million) will journey 50 miles or more between Wednesday, December 23, 2015 and Sunday, January 3, 2016. This represents a 1.4 percent increase over last year and the seventh consecutive year of travel growth for this holiday period.
Projections show that 2,157,962 Tennesseans will travel during the holidays.

Driving remains most popular mode of travel for year-end holiday travel:

• More than 90 percent of travelers (91.3 million people) will drive to their holiday destinations, an increase of 1.4 percent over last year.
• Air travel is expected to increase by 0.7 percent, with 5.8 million Americans flying to their holiday destinations.
• Travel by other modes of transportation, including cruises, trains and buses, will increase 2.4 percent, to 3.4 million travelers.