Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 October 2000 — Page 9

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2000

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

OUTRAGE

Continued from A1

nryin who beat and raped an elderly \yoman. Citing that other officers were already on the scene. White proceeded with his plans to pick upa sandwich. While purchasing li^nch, an unidentified witness ran into the Westside sandwich shop aod told White of the assault and provided him with a description of the suspect. . Believing other officers were arriving on the scene with the same description the witness provided, the 24-year veteran continued with hi^ purchase and said that he’d cruise the nearby neighborhood when he was done.

By JIMMIE BRIGGS Special to the NNPA

. The concept of IPD officers not answering a request for help bothers many, including C. Lee Hazer, who recently said in a letter to The Indianapolis Recorder that she found it unfathomable that an IPD

officer would put the pursuit of a rapist on hold for a sandwich. . “(It’s) hard to express the outrage that tore through me when I learned of what happened,” wrote Hazer. “I can’t use terms like substandard performance, disregard for .women or negligence of duty. Those fluff over what really took

place.”

v According to Deputy Chief Timothy Horty, commander of IPD’s West District, White should have done more as soon as he heard about the rape — such as broadcasting the description; getting more information from the witness; and left the restaurant immediately to help other officers in their pursuit. The issue of whether White even searched for the rapist after he left the. shop was also questioned, as officers on the scene said they didn’t see him. “Emotionally, there couldn’t have been a worse case an officer could turn their back on. Objectively, it shouldn’t matter what the case was. Officer White didn’t give the victim any service,” said Horty whose recommendation to fire the officer was denied by Chief Jerry Barker due to White’s faypfable record. “I felt strongly that Rodney failed in his obligation and shouldn’t be among the ranks of an IPD officer. My opinion has not changed.” r It is still unknown whether White, who admitted an error in jqdgment, will exercise the right to,appeal his suspension, but what isp’t too appealing is the perceptipn that every officer isn’t availably to every taxpayer. Ann DeLaney, executive direc-*' tor of the Julian Center, which recently created an initiative with IPD to prevent domestic crimes, applauded IPD for their decision tq.discipline White.

WASHINGTON (NNPA) — The efforts of civil and legal rights groups are slowly reaping progress in dealing with the discriminatory practice of racial profiling by law enforcement officers. The disparity in arrests, convictions and incarcerations of people of color, particularly males, is believed to be a consequence of the belief that minorities commit most crimes. The most striking examples have been seen in the federal drug sentencing convictions, and vehicular traffic stops. According to statistics by the National Advancement for the Association for Colored People (NAACP), Black drivers are six times more likely to be stopped by police officers than whites. Presently, there’s a bill before the Congress, the ‘Traffics Stops Statistics Study Act,” (H.R. 3441) which was introduced by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Conyers introduced the statistics measure, also known as the “Driving While Black”(DWB) bill in 1998. That proposal as well as a second one submitted for consideration to the Congress last March, the “Law Enforcement, Trust and Integrity Act,” (H.R. 3981) are still pending. David O. Harris, a law professor at the University of Toledo, wrote the text for the DWB bill, as well as a study for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) entitled, “Racial Profiling in America,” published in June of last year. The ACLU’s anti-profiling project is called the “Campaign Against Ra-

cial Profiling.” For nearly two years, the non-partisan group has been working on a state-by-state basis, and introducing similar racial profiling bills to the legislatures.

“In conjunction with Urban League affiliates and other organizations, the ACLU has scored some major successes,” says Jay Stewart, legislati ve.counsel for the National Urban League’s Washington office. “The primary attention has been focused on California, because the idea is ‘as California goes, so goes the nation.’ Gov. (Gray) Davis has really been sort of right in the thick of things on this issue because California rejected a racial profiling bill introduced by the Black legislative caucus on the state level. The Urban League has kept a close eye on that struggle because we think it is crucial.”

Police Practices Project of the ACLU of northern California, who’s overseeing the ACLU campaign. “Frankly, there are a lot of folks talking about the issue, but what we need now is meaningful action to combat it,” he says. “I think if you’re looking at the big picture of this issue, we’ve evolved, especially in the last year to 18 months, to fairly broad consensus that racial profiling needs to be combated. A consensus ex-

his home state, both the Austin and Houston police departments are voluntarily collecting racial statistics. Meanwhile, Vice President Gore and his running mate, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., have regularly raised the problem and committed to issuing an executive order banning the practice as their first piece of civil rights legislation. Gore has also promised to increase diversity efforts in the le-

gal and judicial ranks. Only a few states, including Connecticut, Missouri, Kansas, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Washington, have passed racial profiling legislature that includes data collection. Twenty-two of the country’s 50 largest cities have voluntarily started collecting figures.

ists that not only is racial profiling wrong, but in fact it is widespread,” Crew said.

Several months ago. President Clinton issued an executive order

Kevin Murray, a state senator from Los Angeles, has introduced racial profiling legislation three times in as many years. In 1998 and 1999, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and Democrat Gray Davis, respectively vetoed the measure. This year, Murray reintroduced the measure, but again Davis was unwilling to sign a bill that included a data collection component. Ultimately state legislatures recognized the bill lacked the desired impact and withdrew it from gubernatorial consideration.

compelling all federal law enforcement agencies to track figures on the color, ethnicity and gender of everyone held for interrogation. On Aug. 26, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) President Martin Luther King III and the Rev. A1 Sharpton of the National Action Network led the “Re-

deem the Dream” march on Washington to campaign for stronger measures against racial profiling. Following the event, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno agreed to consider their plea to cut funding to any law enforcement organization found to have a pattern of racial profiling. Unlike their Democratic coun-

During the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles this summer, a score of religious and civil rights leaders took out a fullpage ad in the New York Times calling on Gov. Davis to “support efforts to enact a racial profiling bill that includes data collection.” John Crew is director of the

terparts who supported “ending the unjust practice,” the Republican Party platform introduced at the Philadelphia convention this year did not take a position on racial profiling. Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush has tepidly spoken against the discriminatory practice, but not of- * fered any detailed plan to stop it. In

“Seems to me that like some

professions, police officers are on duty 24-hours a day,” said Delaney. “When a citizen comes and, asks for help to only find that they need to make an appointment is unacceptable. . “When you find out that officecs don’t have the dedication they need to be removed. I wish it could be done before the fact, though,” she added.

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