Posted on 10/13/2007 9:24:47 AM PDT by janetjanet998
PEORIA - What was supposed to be an opportunity to teach students a lesson - walking in the middle of the street is illegal and poses a risk to their safety - has swelled into a controversy denouncing police of racially profiling black youths.
"When we issue citations we're trying to train children there are boundaries in society that you have to follow to have an orderly society," Peoria Police Chief Steven Settingsgaard told an audience of neighborhood activists, concerned residents, media and fellow police officers at a Friday morning news conference. "(People) have taken this opportunity and turned it into a race issue. We've sent the entirely wrong message to the kids - not just the kids who got the tickets but all the other kids who are watching this circus go on as a result."
The news conference was called to quell repeated inquiries by the media and residents who learned of a police operation conducted two weeks ago outside Manual and Woodruff high schools.
On Sept. 28, officers, acting on a series of complaints, issued 32 tickets to students walking in the middle of the street.
The officers participating in the operation were white, and many of the tickets they wrote were to black youths. Of the youths ticketed, three were white and one was Hispanic, police said.
The tickets, meant to be a $75 fine, but in some cases $100 because several officers were using outdated ticket books - something police vowed Friday to correct by color-coding their ticket books in the future when city ordinances change - were written after students apparently ignored repeated warnings broadcast at their schools of the police's intentions.
"Our principals made daily announcements to our students informing them what the ordinance was and indicated for their own safety that walking on the shoulder of the road or on the sidewalk, as well as being good citizens (to those) around them, would be a request not only from Peoria Public Schools but also the city of Peoria," District 150 Associate Superintendent Cindy Fischer told the audience.
Officers, at Settingsgaard's order, were sent in unmarked squad cars to Manual and Woodruff to monitor the students' reaction to the warnings and found many of them still avoided the sidewalks, where they were available. Some of the passageways used by the students do not have sidewalks, and therefore, they are forced to walk in the street.
"The citations were not for crossing the street, not for walking down the side of the street but for walking down the middle of the street for lengths of distance and many times two, three, four, five kids abreast," Settingsgaard said.
Don Jackson, an attorney and the local and state president of the NAACP, has decried the operation, saying the crackdown was a result of racial profiling. Jackson and several other local groups plan to protest at 11 a.m. today outside the police station, 600 SW Adams St., because of what they believe is disparate treatment of the city's black youths by police.
"The citations were not race based," Settingsgaard said. "We deal with what we find. The kids that were out in the street were issued citations regardless of their race, regardless of their sex. We issued tickets to males, females, to black kids to white kids."
Another reason Settingsgaard opted to enforce the ordinance was the impact on the quality of life of the residents who live in the area of the schools.
"It's a broken window. It's another piece that makes what could be a very good neighborhood appear to be out of control," he said. "It hurts property values and legitimately impacts quality of life."
Settingsgaard also said the allegations brought forth by Jackson and various groups have been "overly blown out of proportion."
"So now the message has become . . . Do what you want. We're going to cover you. If . . . a police officer issues you a ticket, that's OK (because) we're going to try and get the tickets thrown out," the chief said. "We're sending a terrible message to these kids. We have an opportunity to change behaviors. These kids are teachable, and they will run their boundaries. All we need to do is be clear."
Just keep writing the tickets,eventually they will get the message.
I wonder what would have happened if the students were white and the police were black
Green is the only color the Peoria PD recognize.
“The citations were not race based,” Settingsgaard said. “We deal with what we find. The kids that were out in the street were issued citations regardless of their race, regardless of their sex. We issued tickets to males, females, to black kids to white kids.”
So you ADMIT TO TICKETING BLACK KIDS!
(sarcasm)
“I wonder what would have happened if the students were white and the police were black”
The fines would be paid and not another thing heard about this.
If the white kids got a warning and an opportunity to move it onto the sidewalk, and the black kids did not, then I’d sisupect racial motives. But it sounds like all were treated the same.
Some kids have been raised to believe that not all rules apply to them.
what if more black kids broke the rules?
Watch out! Jesse may be a-comin’. Peoria’s not too far from Decatur.
Selma!!
JENA!!!!!!
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