"Law enforcement traffic stops based on race or ethnicity are not only unconstitutional. They're also remarkably ineffective." (Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, Summer 2009, Pages 61-62)
This article explores the abuses and inefficiency of racial profiling. What does it mean in McHenry County?
Deputies of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department get their arrest numbers up by the number of "No Valid" arrests. What's a "No Valid" arrest?
You sit on the side of the road and watch for a vehicle to pass with a driver who appears to be Hispanic or Latino. Or you follow a vehicle with a Latino driver. Without noting a traffic violation, you run the license plate through the in-car computer. You see that there is no driver's license in the computer record associated with the vehicle registration.
You might even watch for a traffic violation. Oh, the driver just weaved a little in his lane (maybe a gust of wind or he reached for the radio dial). Or maybe he pulled out of an area where a community party had been held that attracted many Latino visitors; say, in the Richmond area last July 13.
Bingo! The driver has no valid driver's license, and he is arrested and transported to the jail. If there is another licensed driver in the car, you might let that driver take the vehicle and go on his way. Otherwise, you call for a tow ($125 min.) and have the car towed and stored ($40/day?).
Question: How does a deputy know that the person driving the vehicle is the owner of the car, for which the registration shows no associated driver's license?
Answer: He doesn't.
As the article points out, police in the South are confiscating thousands of dollars from drivers of cars but the arrest rate is only 25%. So the police department replenishes its operating kitty but never arrests the drivers. And they can confiscate the cars as well.
"U. S. Department of Justice records show that from 2004 to 2008, the amount of assets seized by local law enforcement agencies that were enrolled in a federal drug enforcement program tripled - from $56.7 million to $1.6 billion. This doesn't include assets kept by those agencies as part of state asset forfeiture programs." Ibid
$1,600,000,000!!!!!
Does anyone know how much McHenry County has collected/received in confiscated goods?
Remember the recent flap in Springfield (yes, right here in Illinois) when a member of a "public body" related to the Illinois State Police was identified as the driver of a high-value, confiscated vehicle. Wish I had saved that article! Why didn't they get him a SmartCar or Subaru or Cavalier to drive? Transportation is all he is entitled to; not luxury.
You can read the entire (short) article here: www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1037
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5 comments:
Come on, Gus. Right off the bat, that article or "legal brief" (Wow, now THAT sounds official! It must be true...) has some issues.
I guess it must be ok for people to drive unlicensed (why the heck did I bother taking a driver education class again? Oh yeah...IT'S THE LAW) and being an undocumented alien is just dandy, too. You do like to minimize the offense. Unless, of course, someone's blown by you on 47 at 70mph in a no passing zone.
It is kind of hard to scream racial profiling when you don't have all the stats, isn't it? In the article, it mentions motorists pulled over btw Houston and "gambling destinations" in LA. 200 of them over a two year period (by the way, if my math is correct, that's one stop every 3.65 days), most of which were African Americans. What if 90% of people traveling to/from were of that ethnicity?? It doesn't say anything about the overall demographic. And 50 out of 200 were charged with drug arrests?? That is a quarter of them. 1 out of 4.
And speaking of stats, they're kind of hard to argue with no matter what jurisdiciton you're in. The numbers are what they are.
One last thing about your article...when a "legal brief" references decade old stats, it is highly suspect. (2nd to last paragraph ref 1999 data).
Love the last line in that article, too. A tear rolled down my cheek as I silently cursed law enforcement everywhere for holding the man down.
(and this may have kicked in twice...blogger is having issues.)
If a city is 60% race A and traffic stops are 60%of race A out of the total, its not racial profiling. Every gets bent out of shape when when big cities are jammed with minorities and the crime happens to deal with those minorities. Take a drive around south Chicago and tell me what you see and maybe that will change your mind.
ace, I'm sure I don't have to define "Racial profiling" for you. Should the "No Valid" arrests being made by deputies be analyzed independently?
Ace,
I grew up and worked on the South Side, there is no where in McHenry County that remotely resembles the South Side. My buddies down there laugh at me when I tell them that "No Valid" arrests are considered as important as drug arrest or any other arrest out here. To real police officers "No Valid" arrests are a joke.
>>>> "Law enforcement traffic stops based on race or ethnicity are not only unconstitutional. They're also remarkably ineffective." (Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, Summer 2009, Pages 61-62)
>>>> $1,600,000,000!!!!!
Remarkably ineffective? LOL!
Look, I think forfeiture laws are generally and morally wrong and basically unconstitutional. Not only that, they tend to corrupt governments and police forces - no question about it!
On the other hand, should law enforcement ignore LIKELY and well-proven oportunities for corrective action and enforcement?
At what point does targeting crime become racism?
I can't deny that racism exists. But I DO think that racial "purists" are a small minority. I think that for most folks, the "racial" discomfort they perceive more often rests on issues of "class" and what some see as disfunctional "cultures".
I would advise those interested read Thomas Sowell's "Black Rednecks and White Liberals".
DBTR
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