SHERIFF AGAIN DENIES USING RACIAL PROFILING

No One In I-94 Operation Said Profiling Was Used, He Says, Criticizing Paper

Kenosha - For the second time in four days, Milwaukee County Sheriff
Lev Baldwin said Tuesday that he and four other southeastern Wisconsin
sheriffs have not been racially profiling drivers on I-94, insisting
instead that law enforcement officials simply have been attacking
speeders and other aggressive drivers.

According to Baldwin, he and the sheriffs of Kenosha, Racine, Waukesha
and Ozaukee counties have been working to curb accidents caused by
reckless drivers. Over the last two weeks, aggressive drivers have
been targeted for two-day periods in Milwaukee and Racine counties,
Baldwin said. Over five additional weeks this summer, aggressive
drivers will be targeted for periods of several days in each of the
five counties.

Sheriff's deputies from all the departments will assist each other
during each target period, Kenosha County Sheriff Larry Zarletti explained.

"Obviously we will not be driving our marked squad cars into another
county, but we will provide deputies to help when it's the other
counties' turns," Zarletti said. "They'll help by riding in chase cars
or operating radar. And when it's our turn, the other departments will
do the same for us."

Racine County Sheriff William McReynolds said his department had been
"developing programs since February," but only in April did he meet
with the other sheriffs to discuss a joint campaign against aggressive
driving.

Waukesha County Sheriff William Kruziki indicated that part of his
motivation was losing two squad cars and having two deputies injured
while pursuing reckless drivers. One of those deputies, he said, is
still out with a serious leg injury.

The question of racial profiling arose Thursday when a Milwaukee
County sheriff's captain, without Baldwin's knowledge, posted a
message on a large electronic signboard over I-94 north of College
Ave. that read, "Drug check point ahead; traffic may slow."

The message was interpreted by some people to mean they would
encounter a physical drug checkpoint at which drivers, based on a
racial or drug runner's profile, would be stopped and have their
vehicles searched.

According to Baldwin, the Milwaukee County captain who posted the sign
was simply attempting to warn drivers of possible slow traffic ahead.
In retrospect, Baldwin said, no message should have been posted, and
if it was going to be, it should only have read "road congestion ahead."

Baldwin explained that in spite of the misleading nature of the sign,
racial profiling was not possible because deputies used laser radar
guns to pinpoint speeders from distances of up 1,500 feet. At that
distance, it was impossible for his deputies to see the color of a
speeding driver, Baldwin said.

Baldwin also criticized the Journal Sentinel for several minutes
Tuesday for what he called an inaccurate quote in Friday's newspaper,
in which an unnamed deputy reportedly said profiling of cars was
indeed being practiced.

"The Journal Sentinel was inaccurate when they said we were profiling
people," Baldwin said, insisting that no one at any rank in any of the
five departments would have said the effort involved profiling.

"We were simply reporting what a sheriff's deputy told our reporter,"
said Martin Kaiser, editor of the Journal Sentinel.

Of 93 people stopped and ticketed June 3 and June 4 in Milwaukee
County, only 22 were black and only one was Hispanic, Baldwin said.
Seventy-four of the 93 were stopped for speeding, Baldwin continued.

Of 63 people stopped and ticketed May 27 and May 28 in Racine County,
only 13 were black and one was Hispanic, McReynolds said. Thirty-six
drivers were stopped for speeding.

Every person who was pulled over was asked whether they would consent
to contraband and drug searches. The bottom line, said Zarletti, is
that only "after probable cause was established (by radar-wielding
deputies), primarily by traffic violation," did any deputy ask a
driver for permission to search that driver's vehicle for drugs or
contraband.

"Again, I apologize for the sign," Baldwin said following Tuesday's
conference. "The captain in good faith wanted people to know that
there is a traffic backup ahead. Where we decided to put the radar
unit . . . there was no traffic backup, but what people were doing was
getting past that point, just beyond College Ave., and then they'd
floor it. We're doing what's right to keep the roads safe and driver
speeds down."