PROVIDENCE, R.I.
Cops sued over racial profiling
By Michael Shaw
Providence, R.I.
Two suits against the Providence Police Department--one by
the American Civil Liberties Union, the other by the state
attorney general--were filed Nov. 6 in State Superior Court
after the police were discovered to be illegally
under-reporting traffic-stop data regarding race.
The suits were prompted by the ACLU's revelation that
Providence police traffic-stop data submissions totaled at best
one-sixth of any other single city's records. Since Providence
is by far the largest city in Rhode Island, with over 1 million
residents, this discrepancy was a red flag pointing to attempts
to hide an ongoing policy of racism.
Police statewide are required by law to submit data on the
race of those whose vehicles they stop. This was mandated by
recent civil rights legislation in order to document racial
profiling. This law came about due to bitter complaints and
fierce mobilizations by Rhode Islanders of color and their
allies. They were sick of people being punished for "Driving
While Black."
The shooting death in February 1999 of off-duty Black
officer Cornell Young Jr. by two white fellow officers in this
city unleashed a further firestorm of protest. The incident
accelerated community organizing against police abuses.
Former Providence Police Chief Urbano Prignano resigned in
disgrace last year under growing pressure from community groups
and charges of corruption in the police department. These
emerged as federal prosecutors revealed widespread racketeering
in the mayor's office, known as "Operation Plunder Dome."
Prignano's replacement, Richard Sullivan, has continued his
predecessor's arrogant attitude of denial. At a Brown
University forum on police and community earlier this month,
Sullivan flatly stated that his department has "absolutely no
corruption." When confronted with Providence's egregious
failure to document traffic stops, he said at first that
officers "were unclear on how to submit" this simple form.
Later he backpedaled, saying that record keeping had merely
lapsed during one month this summer.
While the civil suits play out, local activists against
racism and police brutality are not resting. They are engaged
in a campaign led by the progressive community group Direct
Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) to win a city ordinance
for an external review board, which would create civilian
oversight of the police and help curb their racism.
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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