Thread: ACLU reviewing city police checkpoints

ACLU reviewing city police checkpoints

By: BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: September 16, 2011
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The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, responding to complaints from Winston-Salem residents, is investigating whether race is a factor in the way the city police department conducted hundreds of driver's license checkpoints over nearly a year.
Police Chief Scott Cunningham vigorously denied that the checkpoints are conducted unfairly, saying in a lengthy email, "We enforce the laws regardless of race, sex, creed, ethnicity, etc."
The ACLU investigation, which includes several cities statewide, has not reached a conclusion yet, but Raul Pinto, a racial justice fellow at the ACLU, said Thursday during a meeting of the Forsyth County Hispanic-American Democrats that some of the statistics he has collected through public-records requests from the city police department raise concerns that checkpoints may unfairly target black and Hispanic drivers.
Between June 23, 2010, and May 31, 2011, police conducted about 330 checkpoints in Winston-Salem, and most of them have taken place in minority neighborhoods, Pinto said. Of particular concern to him are 22 checkpoints that he says occurred on Reynolds Park Road during March, April and May, citing the police department's statistics. Reynolds Park Road connects Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, near Winston-Salem State University, to Waughtown Street.
"That we believe is a violation," Pinto said.
Pinto was referring to a state law — N.C. General Statute 20-16.3A(d) — that says, "The placement of checkpoints should be random or statistically indicated, and agencies shall avoid placing checkpoints repeatedly in the same location or proximity."
City Manager Lee Garrity, responding to the allegation about the 22 checkpoints on Reynolds Park Road, said that City Attorney Angela Carmon is doing a review of the ACLU's concerns.
"I have not seen any of the data yet, so I can't really comment. When I get the data, we'll make sure we're in compliance with state law," he said.
Cunningham, meanwhile, offered some insight as to why some drivers may experience more checkpoints than others.
"In certain areas, if people with certain characteristics are stopped more than people with other characteristics, this is because the majority of people either living in the area or traveling through that particular area have common characteristics different than other groups who do not live in or travel through the area," Cunningham said.
"Enforcement efforts occur around the city, but may be more frequent in areas where we have complaints of law violators, traffic crashes, or experience has proven that numerous traffic violations occur," he said.
Federal and state law allows for checkpoints.
However, there are guidelines, such as the state law that says checkpoints should be set up in random locations. Among other conditions, police officers must set up a certain pattern for the checkpoint, such as checking every third vehicle. Race cannot be a factor.
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provided the legal basis for desegregation, provides for equal protection under the law to all people. And the Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The ACLU investigation into license checkpoints is based on complaints the organization has received from business owners in the Waughtown area in southeastern Winston-Salem, among other people. Checkpoints are nothing new in the Waughtown area, said James Taylor, the Winston-Salem City Council member who represents the area.
"But if there's a concern, we'll look to address it," he said after the meeting.
Several people at the Hispanic-American Democrats meeting also said they have gone through license checkpoints. On Thursday morning, in fact, Daisy Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent, went through one on Patterson Avenue, near the Alexander R. Beaty Public Safety Training and Support Center.
"There wasn't a lot of traffic. They asked for my license. I gave it to them," she said. "There was a car behind me, but they let them go and they stopped me, so I was like, 'OK, weren't they supposed to stop the next person, too?' "
Pinto was not surprised. "You're mirroring exactly the complaints that we've been receiving," he said.
bgutierrez@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7278

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/se ... r-1396821/

What a load of crap! Each and every time I have been thru a license check in NC EVERY person was checked! I reside in a rural area with LOTS of back roads, they set up in my area ALL the time due to most of the crashes and violations occur out my way! And guess who causes most of them?

I am "brown skinned" AND I sport Canadian tags on one of my vehicles! I have NEVER been harrassed, and truth be told once the sheriffs out my way know you they leave you alone. EXCEPT when it comes to a license check.

This is just another complaint trying to put illegals above the law! Personally I don't like license checks, but if it gets unlicensed and uninsured and drunk drivers off the road, I'm all for it.