The June 7 Skanner announced that a "blue ribbon panel" created by Police Chief Mark Kroeker "is determined to take a closer look at profiling." The article's subhead, "Bureau representatives insist problem is more perception than reality," gives an indication of where the panel is heading.
Kroeker's panel excluded the media from their meetings, prompting State Senator Avel Gordly to quit. Gordly wrote Kroeker, "[We don't] need another blue ribbon panel...we need a citizens review board with subpoena power."
The panel consists of eight "African-American leaders...one Asian and four Hispanic community representatives," according to the Skanner.
Surprisingly, a staff person from the police-friendly Mayor's office made compelling arguments to keep the focus on racial profiling when the group suggested that since economic status and age are also factors in police profiling, they should not use the term "racial profiling." The staffer, Elise Marshall, pointed out a case in which an African-American professional basketball player was harassed by cops while driving an expensive car, which shows that racial profiling cuts across class lines.
The June 1 Oregonian reported that statistics Hillsboro police began keeping in early May were expanded in June to track "the race, age and gender of drivers who are pulled over. They also will record the reason for the stop, whether the car was searched and what, if anything, illegal was found." According to the article, officers will not ask for the person's race, but will instead record "their perception of the person's race." While this is mildly disturbing, ACLU director David Fidanque points out that it is a way to see "what an officer is thinking during a traffic stop."
North Carolina and three other states have passed laws requiring the collection of information about the race of individuals stopped by the police, and San Diego and San Jose, California have voluntarily begun such programs despite the failure of a state law there.
Community activists in the NAACP have pointed out that any survey about racial profiling should not be limited to stops in cars, but should include street interactions of all kinds, since "walking while black" is as often a perceived offense as "driving while black."
For more information, contact the NAACP Legal Redress Committee at (503) 701-0457.
People's Police
Report
#21 Table of Contents
People's Police Report
Index Page
Return to Copwatch
home page