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LETTER: Treatment by police questionable

Posted on March 29, 2012March 28, 2012 by Staff

I am a UNC-Chapel Hill senior writing to let the town of Carrboro know about an incident with the Carrboro Police Department about two weeks ago. It involved my friend, “S.” S is a dark-skinned Central American and was leaving work one day and was pulled over.

S states, “I was trying to switch lanes, and the officer made eye contact with me and slowed down for me to pass in front of him. I understood that he was giving me the right of way. I waved at him to say thank you. Then he pulled me over.”

S was asked to step out of the vehicle and was patted down in front of two patrol cars. S showed me later how hard the officer was grabbing his hands. It was painful, humiliating and unnecessary, especially since S was being respectful and cooperative.

A third patrol car, the canine unit, arrived. The dog smelled around the car, and after circling the car, the dog barked. They opened his car and searched for drugs and did not find anything. When S asked the canine officer to not mess up a present that he had in the car, the officer sarcastically responded by stating, “I won’t mess it up. All $3 of it.”

My friend is Central American and dark-skinned. I believe the reason that S was treated so rudely by the officers, in fact why he was even pulled over in the first place, was because he is a person of color. The officer said that he was pulled over for “cutting him off,” and said that searching someone’s car for drugs is up to their discretion.

I have never seen anyone asked to step out of the car or to have their car searched after being pulled over for a minor traffic violation. However, I am fair-skinned, and from what I have gathered from the interaction, being of color is suspicious behavior enough as to warrant a drug search by the canine unit.

Where is the probable cause for a drug search? Why was he treated so differently than I have been treated by the police?

During a time in which this country is seeing a rise in anti-immigrant legislation and sentiment, it is imperative that as Carrboro residents, we stand up to say that this kind of treatment by law enforcement officials is racist and has no place here. After this incident, I have lost my faith in officers that select who to pull over and who should be searched for drugs based on race. If a community cannot trust its law enforcement officials, no one is safe. Crime will go unreported, and the police will be feared, not trusted. Racial profiling is unprofessional, unethical and unacceptable.

Camila Salvo-Lewis
Carrboro

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