Pubdate: Sun, 20 May 2001
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2001 World Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Ziva Brnastetter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)

MINORITY STOPS SHOW DISPARITY

More Blacks, Hispanics Pulled Over In Overwhelmingly White Counties

More than one-third of those stopped in 11 counties heavily patrolled 
by an OHP drug interdiction unit were black or Hispanic, despite the 
fact that populations in those areas are overwhelmingly white, 
records show.

In Garvin County, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's Special Operations 
Troop, called Troop SO, stopped Hispanics at a rate 14 times their 
population in the county. In Mayes County, 12 percent of those 
stopped by the drug interdiction troop were black, while the county's 
black population is less than 1 percent.

The disparities occur when measuring those stopped by Troop SO 
against the populations in those counties, according to 2000 Census 
data.

Many of the stops made by the drug interdiction unit involve 
out-of-state residents. There is no data available to show the racial 
makeup of people driving on the interstates patrolled in those 
counties.

The World studied data regarding more than 34,000 warning tickets 
issued by the unit in an 11-county area where it issues nearly all of 
its warning tickets. The data covers fiscal years 1996 through 2000 
and was supplied by the OHP as part of a federal lawsuit by a black 
Army sergeant.

In that suit, Sgt. Rossano Gerald alleged he and his then-12-year-old 
son were stopped and searched for more than two hours because of 
their race. Gerald was given a warning ticket for failure to signal a 
lane change and no drugs were found.

The agency agreed to pay $75,000 to settle that lawsuit Wednesday, 
avoiding a trial on whether two troopers had conducted an illegal 
search and seizure during the traffic stop. Both troopers, Branson 
Perry and Bob Colbert, are assigned to Troop SO.

Though the settlement had been sealed, the OHP agreed to make it 
public last week after repeated requests from the Tulsa World.

The lawsuit examined the data on warning tickets because the 
plaintiffs alleged that troopers searching for drugs often stop 
minorities for minor infractions, issue a warning ticket and then 
conduct a search.

An affidavit filed by Richard Allen, state NAACP president, claims 
that: "Law enforcement authorities, including and often the Oklahoma 
Highway Patrol . . . allege that some traffic violation has been 
committed, but they issue no citations. Instead, they shine their 
lights through our members' cars, search the cars, and sometimes have 
drug-sniffing dogs search the cars. When they find no drugs, they 
release the vehicle without issuing citations."

The NAACP was a party to the lawsuit, along with the American Civil 
Liberties Union.

Public Safety Commissioner Bob Ricks denies that charge, saying the 
patrol does not engage in racial profiling. Ricks said troop 
commanders review warnings and citations data by race each quarter.

"If it gets out of line, we want to know why," he said.

In fact, in the federal suit, U.S. District Judge David L. Russell 
threw out claims of racial profiling by the OHP, saying there was not 
enough evidence to show that a pattern existed.

But Reggie Shuford, an attorney for the ACLU, which filed the suit 
with Gerald, said that's because the patrol does not keep statistics 
on how many minorities it stops and searches.

Ricks said that the patrol keeps no data on those who are searched. 
Individual reports indicate whether a search was conducted in some 
cases.

That practice was criticized by Dr. James Fyfe, professor of criminal 
justice at Temple University and a former New York Police Department 
officer. Fyfe has testified in numerous trials regarding racial 
profiling and was hired by the ACLU for the Gerald lawsuit to examine 
the practices of the OHP.

"Instead of recording all such stops and attempts to search vehicles, 
the Oklahoma Highway Patrol apparently records only cases in which 
arrests are made or tickets or warnings are issued."

Shuford agreed.

"Their denial is really not based upon any meaningful data. . . . 
Data can be beneficial to both sides. If they are not doing it, they 
can prove that. If they are, it can help them stamp it out."

At least eight states have passed laws requiring authorities to 
collect data on the races of those who are stopped and searched, 
including Kansas and Missouri. The Texas Legislature also recently 
approved such a bill.

A requirement for data collection in Oklahoma was originally part of 
a racial profiling measure passed last session but was stripped out 
after opposition from law enforcement. One of the sponsors of that 
law, Rep. Opio Toure, D-Oklahoma City, has said he will ask for an 
interim study on whether law enforcement agencies should be required 
to collect data on stops by race.

The Special Operations Troop is responsible for drug interdiction 
work, mainly along interstates 35, 40 and 44 as well as U.S. 75. 
Ricks said troopers selected for the unit "don't go out and pick on 
people" but merely enforce traffic laws and then look for signs of 
drug activity.

"The people that are put into that unit are the people we call 
high-activity troopers. . . . They make three or four times the stops 
that other people do and they have been trained in recognizing the 
conduct" of those who transport drugs.

Ricks said members of the troop do not take race into consideration 
at all when deciding which drivers to stop.

But figures do show disparities in the stops of blacks and Hispanics 
by Troop SO in the 11 counties where the troop wrote 86 percent of 
its warning tickets.

While blacks make up 8 percent of the state's population, they made 
up 12 percent of those who received warning tickets from the unit.

The disparities are particularly high among Hispanics. While 
Hispanics make up about 5 percent of the state's population, they 
made up 23 percent of those who received warning tickets from Troop 
SO, according to the World's study.

Ricks said that many of those stopped by the troop are from other states.

When trying to examine that issue for all other state troopers, no 
data exists. Except for the Special Operations Troop, the Highway 
Patrol records the race of Hispanic drivers as white when issuing 
citations, according to Gene Thaxton, manager of telecommunications 
with the Department of Public Safety.

And because the patrol does not keep the race of out-of-state drivers 
in its citations database, the race of about one in four drivers 
receiving citations from other troopers during that five-year period 
is recorded as "unknown."

Aside from possibly disparate treatment of minorities by Troop SO, 
the Gerald lawsuit charged that the OHP discounts any complaints of 
racial profiling against troopers. Records reviewed by the World show 
that no trooper has been disciplined in the past five years for 
improperly stopping or searching a minority driver.

In November, a 15-year Tulsa police officer filed the first complaint 
under the racial profiling law. The officer, Keenan Meadors, stated 
in a letter to Ricks that a state trooper harassed and threatened him 
during an Aug. 25 traffic stop. Meadors claimed that he had been 
stopped due to his race.

In a letter to Meadors, Ricks states: "There is no independent 
evidence which supports your allegation that the traffic stop was 
pretextual (race based) in nature." He states that a civilian riding 
with Trooper Jeremiah Hoyt "corroborates the account given by Trooper 
Hoyt."

However, Ricks' letter states that "the trooper became engaged in an 
argumentative posture with you. This will not be tolerated. 
Administrative action has commenced to correct this deficiency."
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