FOURTH: The Justice Department Must Take Steps to Ensure that Racial Profiling is Not Used in Federally Funded Drug Interdiction Programs, The U.S. Department of Justice has a moral and legal responsibility to ensure. President Ronald Reagan established the Task Force on Crime in South Florida under Vice President George Bush's direction. (Source: The Houston Chronicle), In Wisconsin, a hearing in Madison in 1996 on the issue of racially biased traffic enforcement turned into an emotional outpouring, as African American residents shared accounts of harsh experiences with the Madison police. African American parents know that traffic stops can lead to physical, even deadly, confrontations. But the war on drugs has, since its earliest days, targeted people of color. In short, skin color has become evidence of the propensity to commit crime, and police use this "evidence" against minority drivers on the road all the time. Because the races of those stopped were not recorded by the Illinois State Police, this analysis was performed by calculating the incidence of Hispanic surnames among those who were stopped. He removed door panels, molding and seats. (Source: Providence Journal-Bulletin). Most prominent, perhaps, was the disclosure last year of a 1993 memo by the chief of an all-white police force in Trumbull, a suburb of Bridgeport. For example, in District 11, the area surrounding East St. Louis where Hispanics comprise less than one percent of the local driving-age population, they comprise 41 percent of the searches. The ACLU said giving educators the power to police off-campus speech would extend censorship everywhere young people go and prompt schools to … The officers found nothing and in the end handed Walker a screwdriver, saying, "You're going to need this," as they left the scene. Others who drive long distances even factor in extra time for the traffic stops that seem inevitable. Hispanics make up 25 percent of the persons stopped by Valkyrie officers for the offense, while the rate for non-Valkyrie officers is only eight percent. It has a corrosive effect on the legitimacy of the entire justice system. These law enforcement practices soon spread to train stations and bus terminals, as well. Since Whren, the Court has extended police power over cars and drivers even further. Federal Appeals Court Upholds and Expands Students’ Free Speech in Schuylkill County Case- 6/30/20, U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear ACLU-PA Student Free Speech Case - 1/9/21, ACLU Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Protect Students’ First Amendment Rights When They’re Out of School - 4/28/21, ACLU Urges Supreme Court to Protect Students’ Speech, Molly Tack-Hooper, Sara J. ", In the end, Riggs received a citation for "an illegible license plate" and they let him go. It reads SUSPECT. Rose, Mary Catherine Roper, and Vic Walczak (ACLU-PA), David Cole, Jennesa Calvo-Friedman, Vera Eidelman, and Arianna Demas (ACLU), Arleigh P. Helfer III & Theresa E. Loscalzo (Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP), Seth Kreimer (University of Pennsylvania Law School), U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Trans Women are Women: Avoiding the Mistakes of Our Predecessors, The City of Philadelphia Must be Held Accountable for Police Violence, Modern Debtors’ Prisons: Fines, Costs, and Restitution, Federal Court Halts School’s Punishment of Student’s Off-Campus Speech, Federal Court Rules in Favor of Schuylkill County Student's Free Speech Rights in Off-Campus Incident, Federal Appeals Court Upholds and Expands Students’ Free Speech in Schuylkill County Case, U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear ACLU-PA Student Free Speech Case, ACLU Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Protect Students’ First Amendment Rights When They’re Out of School, Students' speech outside the schoolhouse gate. Of course, media fascination with a social problem does not necessarily make it "real," any more than lack of media coverage makes it nonexistent. The ACLU will continue to monitor incidents of racial profiling closely and will, where appropriate, bring new cases to court. First Class Rossano V. Gerald, 37, and his son Gregory, 13, claiming violations of federal civil rights law and of their constitutional rights to equal treatment and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Another chief, Ron Louie, told the Portland Oregonian that in his 25 years as a police officer, he's seen the hurt and resentment in the faces of minority motorists who feel they've been stopped because of their race. Hispanic and African American inmates are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be incarcerated for a drug offense.". Notwithstanding this and other possible factors, the ACLU assumed that driving patterns were consistent with population (by race). Surely Whitman had not forgotten that, for the past five years, her legal department had fought a court ruling that a policy of racial profiling was in operation on the New Jersey Turnpike? In 1995, Gardner was stopped while driving a 1990 Lexus on I-85. Don't give some rookie an excuse to shoot you." In District 4, where African-Americans comprise 24 percent of the local driving-age population, but are the targets of 63 percent of the searches. 's behalf. "Operation Pressure Point" in New York was an attempt to rid the predominantly Hispanic Lower East Side of the drug trade. "I asked why I was being stopped and why I needed to be aware of which town I was in. (Source: Phoenix New Times), In California in 1997, San Diego Chargers football player Shawn Lee was pulled over, and he and his girlfriend were handcuffed and detained by police for half an hour on the side of Interstate 15. "Driving while black" assails these basic American ideals. In some instances, the law enforcement agency sued has denied the ACLU's allegations and has vigorously defended the lawsuit. In the early 1990s, one New York City Criminal Court judge, in dismissing the charges against an African American woman who had been stopped and searched in the Port Authority Bus Terminal, wrote: "I arraign approximately one-third of the felony cases in New York County and have no recollection of any defendant in a Port Authority Police Department drug interdiction case who was not either black or Hispanic.". to the team while the litigation proceeds. Yet despite overwhelming evidence – including the police department's own statistics on traffic stops – officials in law enforcement continue to deny the reality of racial profiling on our nation's highways. It was nerve-racking. Additional reporting was provided by John Crew, Director of the Police Practices Project of the ACLU of Northern California; Phil Gutis, Director of Legislative Communications for the ACLU Washington National Office; Loren Siegel, Director of Public Education for the ACLU; and Emily Whitfield, Media Relations Director for the ACLU. In Maine, the Portland Press Herald last year reported that the city's minority residents feel the pressure of police bias. Stopping a driver for a traffic offense when the officer's real purpose is drug interdiction is a lie – a legally sanctioned one, to be sure, but a lie nonetheless. (Source: Associated Press), Yawu Miller, a black reporter with the Bay State Banner, decided to find out how long two black men could drive at night in Brookline, a predominantly white community, before being pulled over by the police. Along with the complaint, the ACLU-PA also filed a motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction asking the court to order the District to immediately and temporarily restore B.L. This becomes obvious when the officer asks the driver whether he or she is carrying drugs or guns and seeks consent to search the car. Bridgeport, the state's largest city where blacks and Hispanics comprise 85 percent of the population, borders Trumbull – which is 98 percent white. Smith was in full uniform at the time, but he was not wearing a hat which would have identified him as a police officer. Prepared by the Department of Public Education, Loren Siegel, Director; Rozella Floranz Kennedy, Editorial and Marketing Manager; Sara Glover, Graphic Designer. ", The newspaper also told the story of Mutima Peter, an immigrant from Congo and pastor of the African International Church, who said he was once questioned by an officer after parking his car. The story of Robert Gardner was typical. Although some police officials are still in denial, we have presented strong and compelling evidence, of both an anecdotal and statistical nature, that racial profiling on our nation's roads and highways is indeed a nationwide problem. Some intentionally drive only bland cars or change the way they dress. They were instructed to count the cars they passed (i.e., non-speeders) and classify them as non-violators, unless they were violating some other traffic law. A bill to explore whether minorities are targeted by police failed last year in the state legislature, but has been reintroduced. Let them do whatever they want to do. This problem is particularly severe in the case of discretionary offenses such as failure to signal. For instance, a lawsuit filed in Oklahoma earlier this month on behalf of SFC Gerald and his son may take years to resolve. In 1985, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles issued guidelines for the police on "The Common Characteristics of Drug Couriers." For example, in ISP District 13, which covers seven counties southeast of St. Louis, Hispanics comprise less than one percent of the local driving-age population, yet they represent 29 percent of all people stopped by these officers for speeding less than five miles above the speed limit. In July 1998, the ACLU issued its Fourth Monitoring Report: Pedestrian and Car Stop Audit. On October 5, 2017, the Court granted plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, finding that she was likely to succeed in her lawsuit, and issued an order reinstating B.L. Most of the I-95 searches – 646, or 85.4 percent – were conducted by 13 troopers. 122 Maryland Avenue, N.E. On March 21, 2019, the court granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, finding that the school did not have the authority to discipline her for her off-campus speech and that the school was in violation of the First Amendment. (Source: The Albany Times Union). Between January 1995 and September 1996, the Maryland State Police reported searching 823 motorists on I-95, north of Baltimore. They looked like they'd have pulled their guns if I'd so much as sneezed." The police districts chosen for analysis encompassed communities that are relatively integrated. This would be the first nationwide, statistically rigorous study of these practices. This practice is so common that the minority community has given it the derisive term, "driving while black or brown" – a play on the real offense of "driving while intoxicated.". In the first forty-eight hours, the hotline received 200 calls. ", LeRon Howland, the Oregon State Police Superintendent, said that the resolution means that "if you have a police officer out there who uses his badge for racially motivated conduct, it will not be tolerated by police agencies or the leadership of the unions." The great majority of drivers – 5,354 of 5,741, or 93.3 percent – were violating traffic laws and thus were eligible to be stopped by State Police. Each pretextual traffic stop involves an untruth, and both the officer and the driver recognize this. In Colorado, officials in Eagle County paid $800,000 in damages in 1995 to black and Latino motorists stopped on Interstate 70 solely because they fit a drug courier profile. In the 1980s, with the emergence of the crack market, skin color alone became a major profile component, and, to an increasing extent, black travelers in the nation's airports and found themselves the subjects of frequent interrogations and suspicionless searches by the DEA and the U.S. Customs Service. Although the police eventually gave him permission to leave, they offered no explanation or apology, nor was any citation issued. Four thousand three hundred and forty one, or 75.6 percent of the cars, had white drivers. "I really got a fright," said Riggs. "I didn't want any hassle," she said. Of these 262 stops, 85.9 percent were of minorities as shown below: All Car Stops With Known Race of Suspect for the Week of March 7, 1997. But recent Supreme Court decisions allow the police to use traffic stops as a pretext in order to "fish" for evidence. The officer knocked the phone out of Gammage's hand and a scuffle followed. This became the first law anywhere in the nation to require the kind of effort that will yield a full, detailed statistical portrait of the use of traffic stops. End the use of pretext stops as a crime-fighting tactic; Pass the Traffic Stops Statistics Study Act; Pass remedial legislation in every state; Ban racial profiling in all federally funded drug interdiction programs; Collect city-by-city traffic stop data on a voluntary basis. The minority population that operates motor vehicles in Philadelphia is highly unlikely to be any greater than these numbers, and in all likelihood is less. (Source: Rocky Mountain News), In Connecticut, the issue of DWB has arisen in several incidents. Our state affiliates and other civil rights advocates have brought lawsuits based on showings of discrimination by law enforcement agencies, but legal action is only a beginning; these cases are always difficult, long-term efforts that take considerable resources and plaintiffs of unusual fortitude. The ACLU said giving educators the power to police off-campus speech would extend censorship everywhere young people go and prompt schools to … A Bethlehem police car pulled up behind him with its lights flashing, and the officer asked if he needed any help. And, what happens when that tactic is employed primarily against people of color? Maryland v. Wilson (1997) gave police the power to order passengers out of stopped cars, whether or not there is any basis to suspect they are dangerous. was kicked off the junior varsity cheerleading squad for posting a Snap to Snapchat on the weekend that school officials believed was “negative,” “disrespectful,” and “demeaning.” Snapchat is a popular social media smartphone app that allows users to post images that are accessible on the platform only for short periods of time—ranging from one second to 24 hours—and are self-deleting. The characteristics of the Markonni profile were behavioral. He found nothing. (Source: The Augusta Chronicle), In Tennessee, at a May 1999 meeting with the Nashville Human Relations Commission, Mansfield Douglas, a Metro councilman, reported that two months earlier he had been pulled over by a police officer in the very district he represents. And so the cycle continues. To date, the ACLU has filed lawsuits challenging the police practice of racial profiling in eight states. On September 25, 2017, the ACLU-PA filed suit on behalf of B.L., a high school sophomore who has been cheerleading since she was in fifth grade and was expelled from the team as punishment for out-of-school speech. The police justified this detention because the men allegedly resembled a description of two suspects being sought for 19 armed robberies and because one of the men seemed to be "nervous." The question before the Court was, is a search constitutional if it would never have taken place if the police were not looking for an excuse to get around the requirements of the Fourth Amendment? I'm thinking, 'Oh shoot, are they gonna pull me over, are they gonna stop me?' The perspective of Mr. Darden – who spent 14 years working closely with police to prosecute accused criminals – is not unique. ", The agreement called for the case's dismissal and required that police not stop, seize or search a person "unless there is some objective reasonable suspicion that the person has done something wrong." Pretextual traffic stops fuel the belief that the police are not only unfair and biased, but untruthful as well. While Hispanics comprise less than eight percent of the Illinois population, and take fewer than three percent of the personal vehicle trips in Illinois, they comprise approximately 30 percent of the motorists stopped by ISP drug interdiction officers for discretionary offenses such as failure to signal a lane change or driving one to four miles over the speed limit. The men contend that they were not speeding, but were stopped because of their race. Sara J. Garcia Velazquez, M.D., is a general physician who obtained her medical degree from the University of the State of Michoacan in Mexico in 2012. David Smith, an African American police officer, was pulled over while driving an unmarked car in the City of Carmel in 1997. While African Americans comprise less than 15 percent of the Illinois population and take approximately 10 percent of the personal vehicle trips in Illinois, they comprise 23 percent of the searches conducted by Valkyrie officers. In April 1999, Congressman Conyers reintroduced the Traffic Stops Statistics Study Act (HR 1443), sponsored in the Senate (S.821) by Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Russell Feingold (D-WI). Only 19.7 percent of those searched in this corridor were white. The practice undermines public confidence in law enforcement, erodes the legitimacy of the criminal justice system, and makes police work that much more difficult and dangerous. Still others argue without apology that making disproportionate numbers of traffic stops of African Americans and other minorities is not discrimination, but rational law enforcement. Police abuse against people of color is a legacy of African American enslavement, repression, and legal inequality. As of this writing, the count stands at over 1,400. Simpson case. "It's a lot deeper than a ticket," Semell Williams told members of the city's Equal Opportunities Commission. 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