Racial profiling surfaces

Junior Nesim Serequeberhan and a friend are riding in a car when they see lights flash and hear sirens erupt. A police car is chasing them and pulls them over for a broken taillight. The policeman, who is white, asks them to step out of the car, and, without explanation, proceeds to search and frisk them. As Serequeberhan looks back to see what is happening, the policeman barks an order: "Keep your head up, you [expletive] nigger."

The policeman's words last year startled Serequeberhan and his friend, both non-whites. "I didn't really believe racial profiling existed," Serequeberhan explains. "But that incident showed me it does, at least in Montgomery County."

Serequeberhan's incident of police "harassment," as he terms it, may be disturbing, but it may not be rare. According to an informal Silver Chips survey of 100 drivers at Blair during the week of Nov 18, including 50 white and 50 non-white students, 76 percent of non-whites believe that the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) practices racial profiling, compared with 32 percent of whites.

A court-ordered study in 2000 revealed that more than 70 percent of drivers stopped on I-95 in Maryland were African- American, a group that makes up only 17 percent of the state's total drivers.

Guilty until proven innocent?

Isayah Daniels, a black senior, believes he was a victim of MCPD's racial profiling when he was pulled over for his failure to make a complete stop at a Silver Spring stop sign. Daniels was alone when the policeman questioned him. "He asked me if I had drugs on me. When I answered that I didn't, he still continued to search me," Daniels says. "When he didn't find anything, he let me go without a ticket or anything."

Daniels was amazed when the cop let him off. "It was like he didn't care about the violation. He just wanted to catch me with drugs."

The MCPD has come under scrutiny over the past three years as organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP), the Americans for Effective Law Enforcement and the Justice System have filed complaints related to racial profiling in Montgomery County.

One proposed solution to the investigations is Traffic Stop, a computer system implemented in every police car in the state. This system requires cops to record the race or ethnicity of everyone they pull over.

Linda Plummer, president of the Montgomery County NAACP Branch, has been at the forefront of many of the racial profiling complaints, but she now feels optimistic about the new systems. "We hope this effort and technology will bring most of the community in sync as to what is happening on the streets," Plummer said in 2000.

According to Chief Bill O'Toole, director of MCPD media services, the MCPD spent $400,000 on 1,200 new computers for installment in 2000. The technology will improve the statistical evaluations to deal with the complaints. But according to O'Toole, it is unlikely that the computers will solve the root problem. "Racial profiling is a decision that is made in the mind and heart of individual police officers, and no piece of technology is going to combat those kinds of decisions," O'Toole said in 2000.

Despite all the investigations and complaints, many MCPD officers, such as Private Eric Mueller, say there has never been proof that MCPD police officers use racial profiling. Mueller, a Latino MCPD cop, denies the use of racial profiling. "As a police officer," explains Mueller, "I am pulling you over because you're doing something wrong, not because of your race."

"Horror stories"

Racial profiling has created a fear of police in many non-white young people, according to Serequeberhan. Junior Sam Feinstein says he hears of "horror stories" from non-white friends about interactions with police. Feinstein, who is white, notices a difference in his and his minority friends' experiences with cops. "I feel advantaged since I don't really have to worry about harassment by police," Feinstein says.

Serequeberhan's experiences, including "about ten incidents with police in Montgomery County, from being verbally harassed to being arrested," have convinced him that police put non-whites at a disadvantage. "I do fear police, since they have power over me," Serequeberhan explains. "All odds are against a minority."