Judge: Sheriff Arpaio's agency engaged in racial profiling
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Democrat
Mojave Desert, NV
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Although I wasn't involved in Border duties or even immigration issues, but if I had apprended an Illegal, I simply called Immigration, however while on patrol and a radio call goes out that there is Black male a certain height,at a certain weight, wearing whatever, is jiggling closed business doors and also parked auto's, this is a white neighborhood, I check the area out and I find the allegged suspect, matchs all of the description given ,do I stop him for investigation and do a pat down because there is a bulge on his waist band and although I didn't see him doing anything, was this a legal stop based on a profile given by radio, now to further confuse the situation, he admitts to jiggling the door of his car because he sees his car keys dangling from the ignition and out of frustration ,he jiggled the door in the hopes that he left the door unlocked, when he realized he didn't ,he went to a nearby store that appeared to be open and jiggled the door in hopes that it was open so he could buy something to break the side window of his car to gain entrance, now if I believe his story and allow him to proceed on his way and later that evening he is caught breaking into cars. Now if I didn't stop and investigate because of a profiling issue and its found out that I had the suspect earlier but didn't investigate ,I am called a idiot, who shouldn't be allowed to carry a weapon and quite possibilty be disciplined by my dept. for not doing my sworn duty,on the other hand if I stop him and his story is true, then I am called a racist because I stopped him because he was black and I should be taken off the streets and retrained in racial sensitivity classes, and also because of my insensitivity I can kiss any promotion goodbye or a coveted transfer will be tossed out. BTW, this actually happened, and I didn't believe his story and he was indeed checking cars out and he had a record of breaking and entering both cars and business's, I also wasn't disciplined or had profiling charges brought against me, I guess I patroled in a socially unenlightened time.
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When your state has the second largest number of illegals in the country,something must be done, as I understand it ,the deputies were told to ask for id when they stopped anyone for traffic violations or just an ordinary vehicle stop, sometimes there were 8 people in a car,sometimes the vehicles were just coming out of the desert and onto county roads, not a crime but in this area it causes concerns and warrants a second look, this to me is good police work, to a certain segmet of the population it borders on facism,and if I lived in AZ, where BTW, a entire 5 square mile area of Pinal County, Az, in the USA is signed as a warning to the legal residents that there are drug traffickers in the area and to take the neccessary precautions, I would welcome an increased police /border patrol presence.
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johnnycee Wrote: Although I wasn't involved in Border duties or even immigration issues, but if I had apprended an Illegal, I simply called Immigration, however while on patrol and a radio call goes out that there is Black male a certain height,at a certain weight, wearing whatever, is jiggling closed business doors and also parked auto's, this is a white neighborhood, I check the area out and I find the allegged suspect, matchs all of the description given ,do I stop him for investigation and do a pat down because there is a bulge on his waist band and although I didn't see him doing anything, was this a legal stop based on a profile given by radio, now to further confuse the situation, he admitts to jiggling the door of his car because he sees his car keys dangling from the ignition and out of frustration ,he jiggled the door in the hopes that he left the door unlocked, when he realized he didn't ,he went to a nearby store that appeared to be open and jiggled the door in hopes that it was open so he could buy something to break the side window of his car to gain entrance, now if I believe his story and allow him to proceed on his way and later that evening he is caught breaking into cars. Now if I didn't stop and investigate because of a profiling issue and its found out that I had the suspect earlier but didn't investigate ,I am called a idiot, who shouldn't be allowed to carry a weapon and quite possibilty be disciplined by my dept. for not doing my sworn duty,on the other hand if I stop him and his story is true, then I am called a racist because I stopped him because he was black and I should be taken off the streets and retrained in racial sensitivity classes, and also because of my insensitivity I can kiss any promotion goodbye or a coveted transfer will be tossed out. BTW, this actually happened, and I didn't believe his story and he was indeed checking cars out and he had a record of breaking and entering both cars and business's, I also wasn't disciplined or had profiling charges brought against me, I guess I patroled in a socially unenlightened time. " radio call goes out that there is Black male a certain height,at a certain weight, wearing whatever" The dispatch just issued a description, not a profile. The legal difference between the two are great.
"I find the allegged suspect, matchs all of the description given" " do I stop him for investigation and do a pat down because there is a bulge on his waist band" Reasonable suspicion now exist to preform a Terry Stop and Frisk
"was this a legal stop based on a profile(description) given by radio" Yes decided by the SCOTUS Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
"now if I believe his story and allow him to proceed" This is saying that a trained officer has investigated and the tier of suspicion never rose to the level of Probable Cause to make an arrest. Without witnessing a Misdemeanor or forming probable cause that a felony is or is about to be committed, there is no cause for arrest and the person should be set free. Any further detention could be a violation of the 4th Amendment.
"I had the suspect earlier but didn't investigate, I am called a idiot " Idiot is not the proper word, but the general public's average educational level and improper word usage, should not cause you an Officer of the Law any harm. If you failed to investigate, you should be disciplined by your department if not terminated. You took an oath tp preform these duties.
"I stop him and his story is true, then I am called a racist" You were provided a description, the references in the description were made by someone else. You were following procedure whether the description was a Red man, Brown Man or White Man.
Bases of the story, without forming Probable Cause to make an arrest, you legally can not detain the suspect any longer. Once your suspicions have been quelled, any further detention puts you at risk, due to violations of the 4th Amendment. Which can very well result in a Civil Suit, and Qualified Immunity will be of no defense, since as an Officer of the Law you should be familiar with a persons right to be free, and the 4th Amendment.
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