Lawmakers Work To Stop Racial Profiling

Lawmakers and a local preacher are trying to put the brakes on officers who pull over people based on their race. <br><br>Tulsa's Reverend J.W. Johnson recently asked the US Justice Department to investigate

Sunday, February 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Lawmakers and a local preacher are trying to put the brakes on officers who pull over people based on their race.

Tulsa's Reverend J.W. Johnson recently asked the US Justice Department to investigate racial profiling. As the chair of a social justice commission for the National Baptist Convention, he's heard several unsettling stories.

"Many of whom felt they were pulled over because the color of their skin," says Johnson.

Jack Henderson is a communications consultant for a fortune 500 company in Tulsa. He says an officer pulled him over last year when he was taking his television to the shop.

"When they saw the tv in the car, they wanted to search the car and ask what I was doing with the tv...and I said I own the tv," says Henderson.

Oklahoma received national attention two years ago, when George Singleton accused a trooper of pulling him over near Vinita, because of the way he looks. The trooper arrested him on a drug charge. A judge dropped the charges when blood tests proved Singleton was clean.

Tulsa Senator Maxine Horner and Oklahoma City Representative Opio Toure have proposed a bill to put a stop to racial profiling. The bill would require agencies to keep track of the reason, race, sex and age of everyone who gets stopped. The Attorney General's office would review the stops.

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesperson says troopers, deputies and police officers are often accused of racial profiling when they are simply pulling someone over that fits a description.

"If you are a law enforcement officer and you are given a description of a suspect, I don't believe that is profiling, that is looking for someone that is armed and dangerous and doing everything you can to get that individual off the road," says Lt. Stewart Meyer, OHP.

Troopers say many times, they're following trends that prove to be true. They pulled over a U-Haul for speeding last year. Because the drivers were Mexican and didn't speak much English the troopers asked to search the truck and, they found 17 illegal immigrants inside.

Lawmakers say their bill would evaluate all stops to find the truth behind them. OHP says it already has a written policy against racial profiling. The Tulsa Police department doesn't have a written policy but, says they instruct officers not to do it in meetings and memos.