The Department of Justice announced on Monday the release of new rules that would curb racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies.

Covered by the new policy are the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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It is considered timely, even if the guidelines started to be drafted five years ago before the current wave of anti-police sentiment caused by high-profile cases of black deaths in the hands of white officers in Ferguson, New York and Cleveland. The guidelines actually replaces policy made during the Bush administration.

Under the guidelines crafted under the supervision of Attorney Genera Eric H. Holder Jr., FBI agents cannot consider a person's gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, race and ethnic origins when they open cases. 

"As attorney general, I have repeatedly made clear that profiling by law enforcement is not only wrong, it is profoundly misguided and ineffective," Washington Post quotes Holder.

While it covers federal agencies, it applies to state and local law enforcement officers when they are part of federal law enforcement task forces.

Referring to the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Holder said that these recent incidents and the widespread concerns it has raised about trust in the country's criminal justice makes it necessary for the federal government to take every possible action "to institute strong and sound policing practices."

The new rules provides specific examples when federal agents could consider race, ethnic origin and other personal characteristics into account such as when they get specific information that connects a person with such characteristics to a specific crime or security issue.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has opposed the exemptions which "risks swallowing any rule and permit some of the worst law enforcement policies and practices that have victimized and alienated American Muslims and other minority communities," said ACLU Washington Legislative Office Director Laura W. Murphy.

But Murphy acknowledged that the announcement of the revised guidelines is a vital sign of progress, although it fails to completely address the pressing need to change policing methods at the local and state levels.

The Justice Department, under Attorney General John Ashcroft, had banned routine racial profiling in 2003, but civil rights group observed that the policies then suffered from loopholes since it excluded probes involving issues of national and border security.

Tagsracial profiling, Ferguson, chokehold, Eric Holder