Police perspective
Officers say claims of profiling are disheartening
by
Nancy Hernandez
News-Post Staff
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Ret. Capt. Dennis Murphey, of the Maryland State Police, talks about the safeguards and review processes that are in place to ensure data is recorded properly and how motorists are protected from racial profiling.
Staff photo by Sam Yu |
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Suggestions that racial profiling is a problem in law enforcement are demoralizing and frustrating for police personnel like Frederick Police Department Officer Ray Wharton and Maryland State Police Trooper C.A. Mattingly.
Both chose their careers, in part, because they wanted to help people. Each grew up admiring fathers who were willing to risk their lives daily to protect people. Wharton’s dad was a deputy sheriff in Montgomery County and a police officer in the U.S. Army. Mattingly’s father was a Maryland trooper.
“I was always interested in police work,” said Mattingly, 22. “There was no other option for me. I always wanted to go into the Maryland State Police.”
More than a year into their careers, both find it hard to imagine how or why anyone would stop or search a person of any color without justification.
“You can lose your job over it,” said Wharton, 24.
Maryland law requires all police agencies to have a policy prohibiting race-based traffic stops.
Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said if racial profiling were a problem, more complaints would have been filed.
From 2002 to 2006, 11 traffic stop complaints have been made against deputies, Jenkins said. The sheriff’s office has 173 deputies and about 53,400 discretionary stops were made during that time. Officials did not say how many of the 11 complaints involved concerns about racial discrimination nor the outcomes of the complaints.
Discretionary stops are those which don’t involve radar or laser technology.
The MSP Frederick barrack had two traffic stop complaints involving race in the past three years, said Lt. Mark Carter of the MSP Operations Bureau. There are 47 troopers. About 7,689 stops were made during that time.
Of more than 554,000 discretionary traffic stops made by Maryland State Police troopers across the state in 2006, 21 complaints involved the driver’s race, Carter said.
“We have never had a sustained case of racial profiling,” he said.
In the Frederick Police Department, one racial bias complaint pertaining to traffic stops has been filed in the past five years, said Lt. Stephen Tuel, who works in the internal affairs division.
About 51,000 discretionary stops were conducted during those years. The department has 140 officers. An internal investigation ruled the 2004 claim not sustained, Tuel said.
Wharton, who is white, wonders if motorists sometimes incorrectly assume they were singled out for their race or ethnicity without considering other factors that more likely prompted attention from an officer.
As a 16-year-old, he and a Hispanic friend were followed home by a Smithsburg police officer one day. His friend’s father came out of the house yelling that his son had been racially profiled.
Looking back on the situation, Wharton believes the loud music coming from their car, the darkly tinted windows and the tinted license plate cover gave the officer reason to follow them. He doubts his friend’s ethnicity had anything to do with it.
“I pull over anyone who is blaring music that you can hear more than 50 feet away,” Wharton said.
Safeguards
The job of a police officer is to keep the streets peaceful and safe, said Col. Kim Dine, chief of the Frederick Police Department.
While fulfilling that mission can bring criticism, the agency has many safeguards in place to ensure officers don’t abuse their authority, he said.
Safeguards at the county’s three primary police agencies — the Frederick Police Department, the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office and the Frederick barrack of the Maryland State Police — include a tracking system, recording stops with cameras, sensitivity training and penalties for profiling. Some police agencies also have awareness programs for drivers.
Maryland law requires law enforcement agencies to keep a written record of the reasons for every discretionary traffic stop and any resulting searches and arrests. Each agency reports the findings to a data analysis center that delivers an annual report to the Maryland General Assembly.
Police officers are not going to waste their time stopping, searching or arresting people if their actions won’t hold up in court, said Lt. Kevin Grubb of the Frederick Police Department.
An officer must have either obtained consent from the driver or had probable cause to search a vehicle. Probable cause includes factors such as suspicious behavior by the car’s occupants, an alert by a police dog or an officer smelling drugs. A person’s race, age or gender doesn’t provide probable cause.
“Bias-based policing is prohibited,” Dine said. “Any kind of discrimination in policing is not acceptable.”
Cameras have been installed in more than 300 of the Maryland State Police’s roughly 830 patrol cars. At least two stops, including at least one search, for each trooper are randomly reviewed prior to the videotapes being stored.
Review allows supervisors to give troopers immediate feedback on how they are conducting stops, Carter said.
The Frederick Police Department and sheriff’s office have installed cameras in several vehicles as well.
The county’s three primary police agencies are working to recruit more minority officers through various programs.
The MSP Frederick barrack has one black trooper. The remaining 46 are white.
The sheriff’s office has 11 black deputies and five Hispanic deputies out of 173.
The Frederick Police Department’s 140 officers include 14 black, five Hispanic, one American Indian, one East Indian and one Asian. The department also offers various opportunities for officers to learn Spanish beyond survival courses. About 10 officers are bilingual.
All three agencies also require recruits and veterans to participate in sensitivity training. Officers learn about the cultures of countries that are represented on their beats. They are taught to consider how someone from another country might react to them, based on the driver’s cultural traditions or experiences with law enforcement in his country of origin.
Officers act out various scenarios to gain an appreciation for what it is like on the other end of a traffic stop.
Any residents interested in seeing traffic stops from an officer’s perspective can ride with deputies, troopers or officers. The Frederick Police Department also offers a Citizen Police Academy that exposes residents to a variety of police activities.
Additionally, MSP troopers and FPD officers routinely hand out brochures to drivers they stop. The brochures outline what to expect when stopped and what to do. The MSP brochure also includes a questionnaire for drivers to indicate their opinions on how their stops were handled.
Since November 2003, state police have distributed about 1.5 million brochures; about 3,050 have been returned, said Dennis Murphey, a retired MSP captain and now a coordinator in the department’s professional policing division.
Of the returned forms, about 72.5 percent commended the troopers while about 10 percent complained, he said. The rest were used incorrectly, such as being sent in with payment for a citation.
Complaints ranged from minor infractions, such as lights being shined in the driver’s eyes to more serious charges, like racial profiling.
MSP also has set up two toll-free telephone numbers to receive anonymous complaints and questions. The Frederick Police Department and the sheriff’s office have complaint forms available at their offices. Any formal complaint involving allegations of racial discrimination prompts investigation by the internal affairs section, according to all three agencies.
The results of the investigations typically fall into one of three categories:
-- the complaint is deemed not sustained because not enough evidence exists to support or refute the allegation
-- the complaint is deemed unfounded when investigation uncovers evidence that refutes the allegation
-- the complaint is deemed sustained when enough evidence exists to support the allegation.
A sustained finding doesn’t necessarily mean an officer will be found guilty of the allegation, Carter said. Officers have the option for further review in an adminstrative hearing.
A trooper, deputy or officer who is found to have committed racial discrimination faces penalties such as counseling, fines, loss of leave, suspension and termination.
A lot to consider
Few officers are going to risk their careers and safety merely to hassle someone, according to leaders at the three agencies. Traffic stops are dangerous, Dine said.
Nationwide since 2002, 51 police officers have been killed during traffic stops or pursuits, with 17 in 2006, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
The FBI attributes 75 officer deaths between 2002 and 2005 to traffic violation stops or traffic pursuits and stops.
Police officers have no idea who they are stopping or how the person might react, Mattingly said.
“Some people will thank you when you give them a ticket,” he said. “Others get mad when you give a warning just because they got stopped.”
An officer must pay constant attention to what is going on in the car throughout the stop. And he must consider a multitude of factors before even pulling someone over.
Is there a safe spot for both the motorist and the officer to park? Will the driver be able to enter the road again safely?
Could stopping someone cause a crash or a traffic jam? Will the motorist stop abruptly in a dangerous location when he realizes he is being pulled over?
“I don’t want to cause an accident by turning on the lights,” Mattingly said.
While motorists generally dislike being stopped, police officers view traffic enforcement as an important means to encourage people to obey safety laws.
“Sometimes I think people look at us like we’re some kind of fascist death squad,” Wharton said. “They seem to think we patrol the streets looking to shoot someone, but we’re here to help.”
