POLICE, CITIZENS CLASH ON PROFILING

Jan. 15, 2001 - Bridging a decades-old gap in trust between Denver
police and communities of color continues to prove arduous.

At a contentious meeting last week in northwest Denver, community
members and police who recently formed the Racial Profiling Task
Force couldn't agree whether racial profiling even exists in Denver.

"You're saying there's a problem," police officer Rudy Sandoval of
District 4 told those who assembled. "We are not going to acknowledge
that."

To which Rudy Balles of the Gang Rescue and Support Project angrily
replied, "We know that it exists, and we know that it is real."

Community members said it was futile to try to work with police until
they acknowledge the problem of profiling - when minorities are
singled out for police stops only because of their color.

"For us to come together as a community with the Police Department,
there has to be an acknowledgment of injustice," said Pam Martinez,
who organizes youth for Jovenes Unidos.

"There has to be an acknowledgment of racism, racial profiling and
abuses Denver cops don't gather data on racial profiling that have
occurred by the police department toward communities of color and
poor white people.

"When that's acknowledged, there's a basis to begin healing,"
Martinez said after the meeting.

Police Lt. Steven Carter, who works on special projects, including
the task force, said profiling often is a matter of perception. At a
similar meeting in East Denver, he said, a citizen claimed to be a
victim of the practice. A Safeway had been robbed, the man was
driving a similar car and wearing a similar jacket to the robber, and
he was stopped.

That is not racial profiling, Carter said. That is probable cause.

"It might be the easy thing to say absolutely we agree" that
profiling occurs, said police Capt. Marco Vasquez after the meeting.
"But we don't have the empirical data. We can quantify discourtesy,
we can quantify excessive force complaints." But data collection for
racial profiling hasn't begun.

"Even if down the road we do collect data and find five officers who
inappropriately contact people based on race, does that then mean the
Denver Police Department" engages in racial profiling? Carter asked.
"You cannot paint with a broad brush any group based on the actions
of a few."

Cisco Gallardo of the Metro Denver Gang Coalition acknowledged that
police felt ambushed at this week's community meeting.

"Yeah, but they did it to themselves," Gallardo said. "At the very
first meeting they said they thought racial profiling was Hollywood
myth and urban legend - making us look like we were liars."

Gallardo, who is serving on a different committee to improve
relations between police and youth, said that panel has moved forward
at a quicker pace than the racial profiling task force.

At this point, "the community is going to have to decide what we need
to go forward," he said. "The police have to give a little bit."

Under terms of a lawsuit settlement last year between the city and
the American Civil Liberties Union, the police department in June
will begin collecting data in June to determine whether racial
profiling is taking place. Legislation also may play a role. State
Rep. Peter Groff, D-Denver, will be introducing a profiling bill this
session.

Particularly aggrieved that police won't admit racial profiling
occurs, Bill Vandenberg of the Colorado Progressive Coalition called
for Denver Safety Manager Ari Zavaras and Police Chief Gerry Whitman
to attend these community meetings, and distributed a list of 16
demands, including:

- - The police department pay for and distribute "Know Your Rights"
palm cards outlining constitutional rights during police stops.

- - Officers must hand out business cards, with their pictures, listing
all relevant information (badge number, contact information) along
with any ticket issued or when requested.

- - DPD must produce an annual directory of officers that will be
distributed to the community. This directory must include DPD officer
names, pictures, badge numbers and district or unit.