Letter to Ca Governor - Stanislaus County Law Enforcement's Racial Profiling

February 21st 2005

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

What the Ceres Chief of Police officer DeWerk is failing to satisfy is a submission to the law. If indeed it is a fact that a majority of Gang members are Latino, that certainly could not be an excuse for illegal acts of profiling by the Stanislaus County law enforcement. Though most Gang members may very well be Latino, that in no way means that most Latinos are Gang members.

One of the many areas in which Chief Dewerk fails to provide full disclosure of the facts is where he refers to the Ceres Police Department and Stanislaus County Sheriff Department’s actions taking place in early 2004 at the Ceres Flea Market.

It was because of these actions that my personal and physical intervention was necessary. Because of the illegal profiling practice of Stanislaus County law enforcement utilizing what the then assistant - Sheriff Myron Larson, referred to as “The Net”. Both he and I publicly argued the legality and necessity of this tactic at a town hall meeting in Ceres shortly prior to my intervention.

The previous weekend, over 200 Latinos were accosted by the Ceres Police department and most were illegally detained, being denied interpreters as well as their rights to disclosure of Miranda rights, not to mention insufficient probable cause of being stopped in the first place.

Chief DeWerk admitted that his men were inappropriate and went way to far in their tactics and treatment of Latinos – riding in with horses and looking more like a scene from Nazi Germany rather than the protective Police department their words paint themselves to be.

Since this admission was made personally and to many members of community organizations by Chief DeWerk, I took this as a very positive stride. Even to the point of accompanying him to a Latino organization (the El Concillio Latino Round Table) and later proceeding to publicly vilify the former director, Maggie Mejia, in his defense and for several other issues I found to be surprisingly disgusting.

I was taken by this man’s fortitude and apparent honesty, and though I still believe in his sincerity, I feel that it is grossly misplaced as his reference to Officer Stevenson’s mother having Latino blood being a typical racist propaganda argument and also for referring to organizations such as the ACLU and “other similar organizations” which are needless to say, very interested in the current practices of Stanislaus County Law enforcement as “seemingly anti-establishment” as a direct retaliatory statement for the recent legal and appropriate requests made by the ACLU, who’s only concern and duty is for the safety of our communities – sadly needing protection from Stanislaus County law enforcement officers, which is now very clear to me as having a vendetta against people of color in our County.

There can absolutely be no justification or excuse for utilizing race as probable cause of Gang activity, because in doing so, it is illegal, unethical and will not promote a secure future for any part of the community.

Further, for Chief Dewerk to propagate propaganda that would cause many people to automatically associate Latinos with Gangs is unconscionable and this man is contradictive and weak for proclaiming that the utilization of race as probable cause for criminal activity is not a racially biased activity.

I have personally witnessed consistent profiling throughout Stanislaus County by local law enforcement against Blacks, Asians and Latinos. Though I realize all to clearly the tragedy caused by gangs, one white Nazi scapegoat will never convince me that white people have for the most part stopped committing crimes and that all Latinos, Blacks and Asians are probable criminals and should be treated as such for their own protection as well as the protection of the wealthier and whiter communities of Stanislaus County.

Since I am not only affiliated with the ACLU, but also the leader of another Civil Rights organization – LocalBlack, does this now mean that soon, my constitutional rights will be worthless and that I will be considered a probable criminal or enemy of the state since Chief DeWerk deems that these organizations are “seemingly anti-establishment”? Will I soon lose the protection my complexion has provided and be forced to join my brothers and sisters of color in the Stanislaus County law enforcement’s inquisition?

It is my personal opinion that the Stanislaus County law enforcement is lazy and undisciplined. Like a screaming child, they are calling out to the public to look the other way while they refuse to do any real investigative police work and bend our hard earned and fought for laws as they please.

Chief DeWerk seems of the opinion that if it walks like a person of color and acts like a person of color than it is probably a criminal. I am more of the opinion that if it patrols like a generalizing racist and profiles like a generalizing racist it is definitely in need of some diversity training.

Yours in the struggle,

Robert W. Stanford President
LocalBlack
“A Civil Rights Organization”
PO Box 576684
Modesto, CA 95357
(209) 496-0402
http://www.LocalBlack.Com
legal@localblack.com