Who Protects Us From Them?

For many African-American motorists, being arbitrarily stopped by the police for fitting a certain profile (DWB-Driving While Black) can be a matter of life and death. But in the life of 40-year old Diop Kamau, such traffic stops are sport. His Jacksonville, Florida-based organization, the Police Complaint Center, is at the forefront of the struggle to stop police from using racial profiles to justify apprehending Black motorists. Rather than being harassed by officers, the Center goes on the offensive and catches unruly officers in the act.

     Usually dressed in hoodies and baggy pants, and armed with high-tech camera equipment, Kamau and his team routinely drive expensive cars through areas suspected of police profiling. “The last people the police would expect to go high-tech are African-Americans. When we start busting out digital cameras and they find out we’re recording them with cameras hidden inside pagers, they’re not happy,”says the former Los Angeles area police officer. He and his volunteer crew ask the police a series of questions, often challenging the officers’ reasons for the stop. As a 10-year veteran officer himself, Kamau, who’s currently pursuing a Ph.D. in criminal justice, knows when the officers have gone too far.

     After randomly driving through hot spot areas across the country- to date they’ve hit Texas, California, Louisiana and other states- Kamau and his team of nine activists then log information like the time of day the incident occurred, the racial demographics and the number of cops involved into a computer database. The information, including video footage, is then posted on the organization’s webpage (www. policeabuse.com/shep.htm). In addition to their work in the field, the Center also helps citizens file complaints at the local, state and federal levels. “This is as important as Ida B. Wells documenting lynching at the turn of the century,” he says. “If it ain’t written down it didn’t happen.”

     In 1987 as a sergeant, Kamau was labeled “unduly sympathetic to Blacks” by white officers under his command who said they were afraid to arrest Blacks in his presence. Kamau filed a complaint against discriminatory department practices. During an administrative leave, the idea for the Center was born. Two personal incidents constantly remind him of the legitimacy of his cause. In 1987, his father, an LA Police veteran, was beaten by officers during a traffic stop. His father’s complaint was dismissed for lack of evidence. And in 1989, after organizing citizens to report police abuse and record their confrontations with camcorders during gang sweeps in LA, Kamau himself was soon beaten severely by Long Beach police officers. “Police have been unleashed to do what white people used to do individually in their own neighborhoods,” says Kamau. “You won’t find white folks blocking the entry to a lunch counter and throwing things at you for walking through a neighborhood, but they have an institution (the police) that has taken up that role.” Like any “policing the police” effort, the Center has been met with criticism from various police groups and departments. “It creates a safety issue for officers and individuals,”says Lt. Frank Salcido of the frequently targeted Beverly Hills Police Department. “How can you say race was the motivating factor of the stop unless you have a non-minority member at the same time and place being stopped?”

     Despite criticism, the public’s concern about profiling has not gone unnoticed. Representative John Conyer, D-Mich, is currently sponsoring federal legislation which would compel each state’s attorney general to compile stats on police stops. Kamau believes such legislation is a mild breakthrough. “I could spend my life on this issue and only make a moderate dent,”says Kamau. “But if I don’t, I’m handing my 20-month-old daughter and her generation a legacy of second class citizenship.”