APD Racial Profiling Allegations Continue

aturday, December 11, 2004

APD Racial Profiling Allegations Continue

By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer
The Albuquerque Police Oversight Commission says accusations of racial profiling have not ceased.
The commission voted unanimously Thursday to direct the city's Independent Review Office to send a letter to APD Chief Gilbert Gallegos, asking him to look closely at whether biased-based policing is practiced by the department.
According to APD's procedures, officers are not to target individuals based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or economic status.
"If APD does not practice it, we need to find a way for them to not be accused of it so often," said the Rev. J. L'Keith Jones, a commission member. "Their standard needs to be upheld, and the mayor's task force needs to be upheld."
Mayor Martin Chávez created the 18-member task force in March to determine whether biased-based policing occurs within the city.
The commission has dealt with numerous instances of alleged profiling, most recently on Thursday, when it considered a complaint filed on behalf of Essa Dalloul.
In May, Albuquerque police detained Dalloul, then 20, for more than two hours at Coronado Center after mall security guards saw two Middle Eastern men praying outside. However, Dalloul was not one of the men praying, according to an Independent Review Office investigation.
The officers didn't arrest Dalloul, but when they checked his identification against a national database, a notice appeared to contact the FBI, the investigation shows.
Officers also detained several "Arab" people inside the mall who said they knew Dalloul and asked them for ID, the investigation states.
Initially, Gallegos told the officers not to talk about the reasons they called the FBI, and he also refused to be interviewed by the Independent Review Office. Gallegos and the officers later cooperated.
Gallegos and Independent Review Officer Jay Rowland determined there was not enough evidence to say the officers used racial profiling, so they did not sustain the complaint. Dalloul could not be reached for comment.
"I agree that racial profiling takes place, but, in this case, it sounds like the officers got it straightened out after they discovered they had the wrong guy," said Commissioner Michael Cook, who along with five other commissioners upheld Rowland's decision.
And though Jones also agreed to not sustain the complaint, he issued a stern warning: "We need to address this, and the chief needs to address this, or as long as our military is in Iraq, we're going to have a steady stream of cases coming before us with members of the Arab community."