CIRSC/NAACP Meet w/ Santa Rosa law enforcement Pt 3 of 3

3rd of 3 part series, please watch all 3 sections.

This is a meeting called for by the Committee for Immigrant Rights Sonoma County (CIRSC) & NAACP, in a public forum, with county law enforcement. This year, there were 5 officer-involved deaths in 9 weeks of residents, along with 2 more people who died while in police custody of undertreated medical disorders.

The issue of racism in law enforcement is alleged to be very strong in Sonoma County, particularly in areas like Roseland and Mooreland, where Latinos comprise 70-90% of the population. Through a gang database that is overly inclusive, Latino youth are railroaded into jail for non-violent and minor offenses. Through the collaboration between I.C.E. (Immigration Services, formerly called the I.N.S.), who accompany many sheriffs on their calls, and M.A.G.N.E.T. (Multi Agengy Gang Network used by the police in schools), Sonoma County Officials act in accordance with non-mandatory legal -- and sometimes purportedly illegally in regard to -- statutes that San Francisco, Richmond, Oakland, and other surrounding cities do not. These cities seem to recognize the racist component to the situation, where Canadians and Europeans who do take up residence here without papers, are not targeted in any way. Anti-immigration has become synonymous with the deportation of Latinos, identified by their color, name, or accent.

The current request is for Sonoma County to be a "County of Refuge" for the immigrant populations who live here, many of whom came in childhood, many of whom are deported for non-violent offenses, and upon whom our agriculture industry is so reliant on that even the heads of those industries have recently expressed pro-immigrant statements.

While a newspaper article on this meeting came out shortly after, it did not catch the essence of this meeting, which is that law enforcement treats Latino youth differently than white youth, and Latino citizens as different than other citizens. Equally, this treatment extends to African-Americans, who represent a much smaller part statistically of our population.

We are glad that all law enforcement representatives requested more evidence of racism in policing, as opposed to more speculation. As copwatchers, we can provide evidence in the form of legal observation and video footage to assist in the lack of recognition of the problem.

Also, if Supervisor Kerns, a 25-year retired officer, would like a copy of the sheriff's policies, that information should be available to him readily under the CA Public Records Act, especially since he claims that law enforcement doesn't look out for its own.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• cops
• CIRSC
• immigration
• naacp
• santa
• rosa
• copwatch
• racism

[reportanddeport]

I am an American and the husband and sponsor of a REAL and LEGAL immigrant from The Philippines. Although we have been harassed relentlessly by law enforcement in Sonoma County, they have never demonstrated any signs of racism or racial profiling towards myself nor my wife. And they have never asked her her immigration status, nor asked to see her Green card nor implied that she was a gang member. I hope the Sheriff's Department CONTINUES working with ICE.

[janda75]

The weird thing is the officer arrived at the the accident literally 10 seconds after it happened, but when my boyfriend asked if he witnessed it he said that he didn't arrive at the scene until 10-15 min. after it happened! He lied. Sonoma County Police & Schools are full of highly racist people & I pray that someday soon the Hispanic community will be treated fairly & equally.

[janda75]

I went to Windsor High School & saw a sickening amount of racial profiling going on there. Also, my boyfriend, who is of Mexican decent, was in a car accident that was not his fault. The other person who was in the accident was a white male. The officer (also white) ONLY listened to the other guys story & repeatedly yelled at my boyfriend & told him that it was his fault.