While the St. John Police Department continues to battle allegations of racial profiling within its ranks, the area’s Hispanic community is taking steps to arm its citizens with knowledge.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, in partnership with the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund and WLTH 1370 out of Gary, presented a workshop Saturday at St. John’s Community Baptist Church on what to do when approached by officers. While the group understands that it’s never right to be difficult toward police officers, they’re concerned that too many people don’t understand that they have rights, whether they’re documented or not.
During his keynote address MALDEF counsel Jorge Sanchez said people need to be aware of their Fourth Amendment rights, or their right to be secure “in their person or possession.” If someone is pulled over by an officer and they get the sense they’re not going to be allowed to leave, that falls under seizure of a person, and they have the right to ask whether they’re allowed to leave.
The best way to do that, of course, is nicely and without aggression, Sanchez cautioned.
“Always be polite, because you don’t want to give anyone an excuse to use unreasonable force,” he said. “If they say ‘No,’ you’re being seized, so is it a reasonable purpose?”
More Top Picks Best Document Cameras For Homeschool
Pulling someone over for a bad headlight, for example, might sound reasonable since it’s the law that one’s vehicle must be in working order. Where it becomes problematic is when officers choose to pull over some people over others, or let some people go and not others. Once police have a legitimate reason to pull someone over, they can take the time to ask for a license, proof of insurance and even get people out of the car to search them.
Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that when officers conduct a legitimate stop, it shouldn’t take any longer than necessary to dispel the reason for the stop, Sanchez said. As well, officers don’t have the right to ask for someone’s citizenship papers without a reason.
He said people too often allow law enforcement to ask those questions because they feel the officers are “just doing their job.” That line of thinking, while true to an extent, is often dangerous, he said.
“You will hear so often that, ‘If you haven’t done anything, what do you have to fear?’ That is the worst advice you can ever get,” Sanchez said. “There are hundreds of people in jail now because of that exact advice.”
Sanchez, however, was quick to point out that law enforcement has a lot of its own pressures and that they alone aren’t completely responsible for the high percentage of people of color in jail. A large part of that falls to money, or the lack thereof.
“Money is a huge factor, because you can’t get a good attorney without it. There are no rich people on death row,” Sanchez said.
St. John resident Sabina Delgado, who attended the workshop, said she understands it’s hard for people to not get angry at officers when they feel they’ve been pulled over unnecessarily, but she, like Juan Andrade, who cohosts Nuestra Comunidd NWI with Eve Gomez on WLTH, believes they must show restraint.
“I know it’s horrible, and I know you have to swallow your pride, but the battle belongs in the courtroom,” Delgado said.
Gomez doesn’t agree.
“Juan and I have argued passionately on air about this many times,” Gomez said. “We’re the representatives of an international community, and we’re not going to teach our people to accept bad behavior. And as a people of God, we have an obligation to not accept injustice.”
The groups are planning a second workshop for Hammond in the next few weeks, Gomez said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.