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Racial Profiling in Palo Alto

By TChris

Racial profiling on the part of many police departments seems obvious to those who are profiled, as well as to many of us who interact regularly with the victims of profiling. An officer's true motivation is easy to conceal since officers are more likely to say "I pulled him over because his tire touched the fog line" than "I pulled him over because he's black and his tire touched the fog line." Statistical evidence of profiling seems compelling to some, less so to others.

In Palo Alto, however, there's no ambiguity at all, thanks to a police chief who made departmental policy abundantly clear:

Police Chief Lynne Johnson [during on October 30 interview on KGO-TV] ... said she instructed her officers "to make contact with African-Americans in Palo Alto," adding: "When our officers are out there and they see an African-American, in a congenial way, we want them to find out who they are."

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It is difficult to imagine a more blatant admission of racial discrimination in law enforcement. Johnson doesn't want officers to approach white people "in a congenial way" to "find out who they are." Only blacks who venture into Palo Alto get that "congenial" treatment. The unmistakable message: if you're black, you don't belong here.

Johnson claims she meant to say that police should question any African-Americans who are "acting suspicious" in light of a number of recent robberies in Palo Alto. A reasonable suspicion that a particular individual has committed a crime is a valid reason to question that person, but an officer's subjective notion that someone is "acting suspicious" isn't.

More importantly, why did Johnson single out "suspicious acting" blacks for questioning?

One suspect in the unusually high number of street robberies has been apprehended so far. That suspect is white.

But even if most of the recent robbery victims described their robber as black, that isn't a license to question black people generally. Since the population of Palo Alto is only about 2 percent black, it stands to reason that more crime in Palo Alto is committed by whites than by blacks. Is that an excuse to start questioning white people to find out "who they are"?

In a country that has recently found reason to celebrate its commitment to equality, you can imagine that the victims of profiling feel equal treatment under the law is an empty promise.

Kevin Ward, a 15-year-old Palo Alto High School student, said he and his father were recently stopped on their way to play basketball, an experience he described as humiliating for his father, who was forced from his car before being released.

Protesters yesterday marched on city hall, some wearing T-shirts that said, "Am I a suspect?"

A phalanx of East Palo Alto and Palo Alto City Council members, as well as San Mateo County Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson, attended the Sunday protest, which featured calls for Johnson's ouster.

Johnson needs to go.

The city council meets today to issue a resolution condemning racial profiling, and there is talk among city officials about the possibility that Johnson will resign from her post.

If she doesn't resign, she needs to be fired, and a new police chief needs to change the culture in the Palo Alto police department by making it clear that (unless it is part of a more detailed description of a specific suspect) race is not an appropriate basis upon which to decide whether an individual should be questioned.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 10, 2008 (boomark / email).