Would you allow your vehicle to be searched?

Suppose you get stopped some night. The trooper tells you that you have a taillight out (or a headlight or a license plate light). Your driver's license and insurance are in order, and you think you'll be on your way with a warning (it'll be written, not verbal).

Then he (or she) says, "You don't mind if I search your vehicle, do you?"

Suddenly your mind is racing. "Darned right, I mind," you are thinking. But do you say it? There is no one else around. The trooper is armed, of course. So you quickly think through your options.

Then the trooper says, "Of course, you don't have to let me search. But, if you don't, I'll have to ticket you for the light (no warning). Might have to check your entire vehicle for safe operating condition, too." You think about the right front tire that is a little thin. And how the horn doesn't work all the time.

Intimidated yet? Oh, did I mention that you are Hispanic or black?

According to an Associated Press article, the Illinois State Police might have a problem with racial profiling. Troopers "...were nearly four times more likely to ask Hispanic drivers to allow a search and three times more likely to ask black drivers (than to ask white drivers), according to the ACLU."

The AP says that State numbers indicate that "police are actually more likely to find illegal contraband among white drivers."

The ACLU said "that a (State) panel created in 2006 to study racial profiling had never even met." Fancy that.

Racial profiling - is it? was it?

When will the issue of racial profiling at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department be put to rest? And how?

Will an outside, independent, trustworthy agency be brought in to investigate? Or will the sheriff's department investigate itself - again?

What will they find?

I remember the phone call I received one day after rollcall. "They told us, 'Just mark everybody down as white.'" Now that's a good way to end racial profiling, isn't it? Seems like some of the deputies did just that.

And I remember the statement to Judge Mahoney in Federal Court in Rockford by the sheriff's own attorney: "...Seipler was terminated for complaining about racial profiling."

Now we all know how I have complained about not being able to hear so well in McHenry County Courtrooms. Could I have "mis-heard" in Rockford? Let's see what the transcript of that fateful day in Rockford has to say:

"MS. BARTON: Because Mr. Seipler was terminated for complaining about racial profiling. ..." [Page 6, Lines 21-22]

Well, I guess the way I wrote it down right in front of Judge Mahoney was pretty accurate; right?

How many investigations were there at the sheriff's department into racial profiling, before and during the early parts of Zane Seipler's civil rights lawsuit against the Sheriff and the Department? Three?

If there is a "current" investigation, could it possibly come up with any other result than "No racial profiling"? If it did, how would they ever explain away the results of the first three "investigations"?

Wait! Breaking News: SEE http://dailyherald.com/article/20110525/news/705259788/  The Sheriff says there is no racial profiling. Four deputies just "mis-marked" citations.

Oh, my. Thank goodness...  Somehow, I think this isn't the end of things...

I'm reading an interesting book right now - Hoodwinked, by Jack Cashill. On January 24, 1980, author and progressive Mary McCarthy was a guest on The Dick Cavett Show. She had this to say about Lillian Hellman, as she answered a question from Cavett about her accusation that Hellman was "tremendously overrated, a bad writer, and a dishonest writer." She added, "I said once in some interview that every word she (Hellman) writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'" (Hoodwinked, by Jack Cashill. pp. 37-40, Nelson Currant, Nashville, Tenn.)

CALEA - status?

Recently I suggested to a reporter at the Northwest Herald that the newspaper investigate how many calls were placed to the McHenry County Sheriff's Department on Monday, December 13, when the CALEA inspectors were there to examine the Department for its application for accreditation?

Not only was there no article at the time, but there has been no article since.

The information about the number of calls and, possibly, the topics of the calls, should be available by FOIA. A Department telephone number was publicized.

There was one major problem, though. Members of the public were invited to comment on how MCSD was doing in regard to CALEA. The problem? How would members of the public know how the Department was doing. CALEA standards have never been publicized.

Recently, news has emerged via a hearing in a Rockford Federal court that that an issue involving racial profiling did, indeed, exist at the Sheriff's Department, contrary to denials of Sheriff Nygren. It turns out that there was a second set of records, for tickets that were issued but never reported to IDOT. Lots of them.

When a deputy (or more than one deputy) makes many traffic stops and records the race of a Hispanic driver as Caucasian (white), isn't that going to tilt statistics submitted to IDOT about the race of the driver stopped?

Do you suppose there is a CALEA standard that reads, "Record the driver's race correctly"?

It's not rocket science!

Fox News on McHenry Co. Sheriff's Dept.

Last night Fox TV news aired a report about racial profiling by some deputies of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

Blake Horwitz, the attorney for recently-fired deputy Zane Seipler, was interviewed. Blake represents Zane in his federal lawsuit against the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. You can watching the short interview here:
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=2082162&version=44&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1

If you are a deputy who will tighten your belt and speak out about racial profiling, call Blake Horwitz, whose website is www.police-watchers.com

If you believe you have been a victim of racial profiling by the McHenry County Sheriff's Department, speak out. Contact Blake Horwitz now. La Raza published a long article on January 9th and it can be read at www.impre.com/laraza/noticias/primer-plano/2009/1/11/racismo-en-las-calles-102428-1.html