BLACK LEADERS SEE LITTLE PROGRESS

Shooting Concerns African-Americans

SALISBURY, MD - The June 4 incident that saw 14 shots fired at two
African-American suspects believed to be carrying drugs was exactly the
kind of situation the NAACP has been trying to avoid since September.

Aware that racial tensions were growing between the black community and the
police department, National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People members were meeting monthly with acting Police Chief Ed Guthrie in
attempts to prevent situations with racial overtones. Years of complaints
of mistreatment of African-Americans by the police department preceded the
latest incident, some black community leaders said. The shooting should be
viewed as a wake-up call for the police department, they said.

State Del. Rudy Cane, D-37A, NAACP President Mary Ashanti, Salisbury
Councilwoman Lavonzella Siggers, Salisbury businessman McKinley Hayward and
Wicomico County Councilman Ed Taylor were among the black leaders who
called for immediate action.

"If the police department has been in communication with the black
community for eight months and this thing still happened, it tells me very
little was being done about correcting the situation," Cane said.

In protest marches, a press conference, and at NAACP meetings,
African-Americans said they are calling for tougher measures to improve
relations between their community and the police department. Prime among
them is the possibility of a citizen review board with subpoena powers, a
citizens advisory committee, moving the location for complaints from the
police department to the mayor's office, and demanding that more black
officers be hired and promoted within the police department. "We haven't
decided exactly which strategy to use," Ashanti said Friday. One thing the
normally soft-spoken Ashanti is sure of: "This incident was a blatant
disregard for the health, welfare and safety of the community."

While officers Troy Raines and Cris Taylor, acting on a tip that a purple
Jeep-style automobile at the McDonald's would contain drugs, might have
acted no differently had the suspects been white, bad blood between the
police department and blacks caused the African-American community o think
otherwise. The officers are under investigation for possible use of
excessive force and are on administrative leave.

The black community is seriously concerned about stray bullets that could
have injured innocent bystanders. Fourteen bullets fired in a crowded
McDonald's parking lot at Cypress Street and Route 50 during a busy part of
the day was too much, they said. "You have to understand that some of
these people had children working in the area," Ashanti said.

"I told the mayor (Barrie Parsons Tilghman before this incident happened
that this police department would bring shame on her," Salisbury
Council-woman Lavonzella Siggers said Friday. "And it has."

"They're not like police officers to us," Siggers said. "The police are
supposed to protect us. Instead (blacks) are intimidated and afraid for
themselves and their children."

Siggers said she has observed, and been told by others, the police harass
blacks, both physically and mentally. While she hasn't seen any cases of
police beatings, she has been told of suspected criminals being roughed-up
by police. The psychological harassment is worse she said. When they go
to file complaints at the police station they are "interrogated, ignored or
discouraged from filing a complaint," she said. Whites are often treated
the same way she said but it's worse for blacks. What she wants most is
for the police department to "come out of denial" and publicly acknowledge
there's a problem with race relations. Also, good officers must have the
courage to speak out against the bad ones as officers in New York have done
in a police brutality case.

Siggers main campaign is to get blacks to document incidents and be willing
to file complaints. She is urging the complaint department to be moved to
the mayor's office. She voted against an ordinance against loitering aimed
at halting prostitution in the Church Street area because it would cause
more harassment of blacks on the streets she said.

"I have had complaints about police officers," Guthrie says. "What
business that deals with customers doesn't get complaints about its
employees?" Most of the complaints were not based on race, he said. Every
complaint is investigated, and the police department has made changes, such
as modifying its arrest procedures for juveniles, based on suggestions from
black leaders.

The call for more black officers, especially ranking ones, was unanimous.
"The only way to encourage respect is to have more black officers in
supervisory positions," Cane said. "If you have a black officer who is
commissioned, and you don't put anyone under him, he's not supervising
anyone, so there's no reason to have respect for him."

The passing over of former Maryland State Police Lt. Ernie Leatherbury as a
finalist for the Salisbury police chief job is also a sore point among many
members of the black community. Leatherbury retired as chief of field
operations, supervising 1,200 people. He was the third highest-ranking
member of the state police. "Salisbury missed an excellent opportunity to
put a black in a high-level position when they eliminated Leatherbury from
consideration," said Wicomico County Councilman Edward Taylor. Until
recently, Taylor said Salisbury police were doing a good job, and there was
not much reason for change. But Taylor said he has always been concerned
about the racial balance on the force. The black community sees the force
as a white agency, he said.

Salisbury police has eight African-American officers, two of them in
supervisory positions: one a corporal and one a sergeant. It had two black
captains until recently when one retired. African-Americans have been in
charge of both recruitment and sensitivity training. In addition, Guthrie
said he recently delivered application packages to black leaders asking
them to help recruit African-American officers and got no response. Over
the last eight years he has lost eight African-American officers to other
agencies, most of them to UMES, because of better pay there.

According to McKinely Hayward who owns the Super Soda next to the
McDonald's on Cypress Street, Salisbury police need to lose their "macho"
attitude. "No one is asking the police not to enforce the law," he said.
"The lower echelon doesn't know how to greet people. They are trying to act
out the part of Humphrey Bogart, they are trying to exert force when force
is not needed," he said. He gave high praise to Col. Guthrie and Captain
Ray Ulm who he said deal respectfully with African-Americans.

Cane also said language is a barrier. Salisbury police should model
themselves after the state police, he said, who are masters of courtesy.
State troopers address people as "sir" or "ma'am," he said, when they stop
cars. They also tell people why they are pulling them over before they take
any action.