NAACP AIRS CONCERNS WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT

The Sumter branch of the NAACP is concerned about how law enforcement
officers treat minorities, members said Monday during a forum with Sumter
Police Chief Patty Patterson and Sheriff Tommy Mims.

Moderators touched on a series of issues that have long been a concern of
minorities.

The discussion at the North HOPE Center, moderated by James Williams, the
first vice chairman of the local branch of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, visited racial profiling, selective
enforcement, hiring practices and a seemingly disproportionate number of
minority drug arrests.

Both department heads said they make strong efforts to prevent racial
profiling.

Patterson said the city force, as an accredited agency, has to have a
written policy in place to prevent such actions.

Mims said his office does not have a written policy but it stays on top of
the issue by manual reviews of arrest records.

Joined by Chief Deputy Anthony Dennis, Mims said they had discussed
starting a specific program, but that it would not be cost-effective.

"I don't see us implementing one anytime in the future," Mims said.

Dennis agreed, saying, "I think we're doing a pretty good job now."

During the public questioning portion of the dialogue, NAACP member Eugene
Baten told the officers local statistics make it apparent that minorities
are being arrested for illegal drugs at a disproportionate rate.

Baten said his research shows 83 percent of all people incarcerated in
Sumter County on drug arrests are black.

"I know from experience that white people are involved in drugs as much as
black people, if not more," said Baten, who works with the state's
Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

Patterson said a possible reason is that often minorities are more blatant
in using drugs in public, while whites might have a tendency to use drugs
"behind closed doors."

"I don't see it as a black and white issue," Mims said. "I see it as a
people problem. It's a drug problem."

On the issue of selective enforcement -- situations where apparently
several people have partaken in a crime but only a few are prosecuted --
Patterson said all law enforcement can do is turn over information to the
solicitor's office and allow that department to determine who will be
prosecuted.

Police Maj. Perry Herod agreed. "We have to go with the information we get."

Williams began the discussion by asking for each department's statistics on
its hiring practices of minorities.

Neither department could say what percentage of applicants were black, but
Patterson said about half the people hired during her tenure have been
minorities.

Minorities make up 37 percent of Mims' staff and 35 percent of Patterson's.

Patterson and Mims also discussed relations between the city and county
departments, with both Patterson and Mims saying the city and the county
work well together when compared to other locales.

"A lot of places in this state you wouldn't see the sheriff and the chief
sitting this close to one another," Mims said, "let alone working in the
same building."