Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2012 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 PROFILING MARS POLICING Racial profiling is understandably a controversial police tactic. Unfortunately, that's what appears to have occurred in Fort Lauderdale's predominantly black, low-income neighborhoods, where young black men were detained and searched after being stopped for walking in streets lacking sidewalks. According to the Broward County Public Defender's Office, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department crossed the line in using an obscure infraction to stop and search people for drugs. The state law is clear: "Where sidewalks are provided, no pedestrian shall, unless required by other circumstances, walk along and upon the portion of a roadway paved for vehicular traffic." So, during an 18-month period ending last September, Fort Lauderdale police officers issued 176 citations to individuals who they say failed to use sidewalks or crosswalks. Video: Bloodied victim speaks out about robbery, assault following bus ride However, the fact that most of these citations were issued primarily in low-income, predominantly black neighborhoods immediately sparked suspicion. Why? Not just due to the demographic make-up of the communities, but because the citations were issued in areas where there were no sidewalks. Many South Florida neighborhoods lack sidewalks or have sporadic stretches where sidewalks simply end, usually determined by the whims of local development and planning codes. Still, the attorneys in the defender's office quickly showed up with compelling evidence with which to argue that a few overzealous police officers abused the law. And judges and prosecutors had to drop what appeared to be valid charges against people suspected of possessing or dealing drugs. In case after case, defense attorneys produced photographs where the arrests took place - photographs that showed those areas lacked sidewalks. Without the sidewalks, the police lost the legal reason to have stopped the individuals, in the first place, to determine if additional charges were warranted. The police later testified that the suspects agreed to be searched. The suspects said they did not. At this point, however, the cases against these suspects substantially weakened. The obscure sidewalks law gave did not give them the solid legal justification they expected.Stopping people for not walking on sidewalks when sidewalks don't exist - and doing so in predominantly black neighborhoods on top of that - led to complaints of racial profiling. And enough doubt in prosecutors and judges to toss the cases. Granted, the police are responsible for catching criminals, and illicit drugs continue to be a problem in many urban areas. We get that. Residents in the city's crime ridden communities, however, deserve a better effort than one that comes across as a "walking while black" tactic. Conclusion: Using the sidewalk law is a clever idea, but only in places where there's actually a sidewalk. We don't see how you can break a law where the law really should not apply anyway. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom