BCSD and Darren White's Racial Profiling Problem

Bernalillo County sheriff Darren White is running for Congress in the first Congressional district. He has the blessing of Republicans both locally and nationally. But he does have his fair share of problems.

Including with his job as Bernalillo County Sheriff and racial profiling. According to the New Mexico Human Right's Coalition, White's Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department was singled out as being a group which used racial profiling (pdf).

Although not listed on the questionnaire, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department and the New Mexico State Police were identified by several respondents' as law enforcement agencies with a serious problem with racial and/or ethnic profiling.

Yes, White's BCSD was singled out despite not being on the questionnaire. Their racial profiling is so bad that people go out of their way to point this out even when they are not specifically asked about it.

One example comes from an Iraqi citizen who was pulled over for legitimate reasons; then things grew weird when the police officer called the FBI to ask what to do.

The racial profiling debate centers on his next move, a phone call from his patrol car to the Albuquerque FBI field office to see if he should take any other action against Hussein.
He was instructed to pass along Hussein's personal information and allow him to go if the background check did not show outstanding warrants. [...]
"All we were told was that he was suspicious because of his last name and Arab background," [Independent Review Officer Jay] Rowland said.

Darren White defended this as any typical fear-mongering Republican would; he invoked his pal Rudy Giuliani's favorite subject 9/11. "Our biggest lesson from Sept. 11 was that we had to bridge gaps in communication," White told the Albuquerque Tribune. "The tragedy could have been avoided if more agencies had followed through and shared information."

In other words, White compared pulling over someone named Hussein to preventing another 9/11 type attack.

This isn't the first time White used over-the-top GOP fear-mongering speech. I noted last week one of his statements at a Bush campaign stop in 2004.

"We can sit back and wait for the terrorists to plan an attack on u...

Hmm...

For more on Darren White, see the New Mexico FBIHOP archives.

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Comment by Paul7 on November 19, 2007 at 6:46pm: Give me a break. The New Mexico Human Right's Coalition wants open borders. I guess the many people lawfully waiting in line to come here are less important than the illegals breaking our laws by being here . Apparently they don't believe a country should be in control of it's own borders. They state they believe in equality 'regardless of citizenship status'. I'm sorry but a foreign national here illegally has no equality with you or me; they need to be deported.

And what's the problem with Mr. Hussein? He was pulled over for legitimate reasons and they did a background check. So what? The left never tires of handcuffing law enforcement.

Comment by LP on November 19, 2007 at 6:55pm: Correction: they did a background check BECAUSE he was Iraqi and his name was Hussein. If they had done a background check because of a legitimate reason, I would have no problem with it. But when it's obviously racially or ethnically motivated, that is not only against the law, but is just morally wrong as well.

Comment by Paul7 on November 19, 2007 at 7:02pm: LP, the article said Hussein was pulled over for legitimate reasons. Of course it would be wrong to stop someone solely because they look Arab, Muslim, or whatever.

Comment by LP on November 19, 2007 at 7:05pm: They pulled him over, and in the article this is the reasoning for the extraordinary background check:
"All we were told was that he was suspicious because of his last name and Arab background,"
The pulling over was for legitimate reasons, as I said in the post. But afterwards, when they noticed he was an Arab, they decided to call the FBI.

Comment by bleve on November 19, 2007 at 9:07pm: Paul 7,

"The left never tires of handcuffing law enforcement.".... um, let me see if I can match you... The right never tires of waterboarding civil liberties. Gurgle, gurgle.

The article points out questionable procedures by the Sheriff department and absurd reasoning by Sheriff White, it isn't exactly a partisan attack.

I find it amusing that progressives and many liberals will gladly criticize a democrat if that politician is worthy of criticism but the winger's loyalty knows no bounds.

By the way, the immigration debate is a scapegoat issue and political crumbs for the disgruntled middle to lower class white male demographic. I would hope that everybody that wants to deport all illegals is currently boycotting 99% of all restaurants... and you're not allowed to eat fruit either.

Comment by Paul7 on November 19, 2007 at 9:22pm: bleve,

For loyalty knowing no bounds, nothing will match the sad record of the left who defended the impeached rapist Clinton when he was around. Maybe you think Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey were lying like all the other women.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't think of myself as a 'disgruntled middle to lower class while male'. I am a Hispanic and will make north of six figures this year.

Comment by LP on November 19, 2007 at 9:28pm: How exactly did Bill Clinton get brought into this? Did I miss the part where we were talking about former Presidents that have absolutely nothing to do with the post at hand?

Comment by Paul7 on November 19, 2007 at 9:39pm: Just rebutting bleve's claim that 'democrats will gladly criticize a democrat if that politician is worthy of criticism but the winger's (right?) loyalty knows no bounds'.

Comment by bleve on November 19, 2007 at 9:44pm: Paul7,

Hmm, that's a stumper. I guess their crumbs fell a little further from the table on this one. They like to cast a wide net (remember what Katherine Harris said).

Anyway, sorry to burst your bubble but my mind doesn't scurry to support a party affiliation or a past politician... besides, I don't think you want me to link to every republican sexual scandal in the last month.

Keep following the clues grasshopper and you'll find out that most politicians on either side of the aisle are controlled by the same interests... yep, sorry to brake it to you man, but them filthy democrats are funded by the same people that fund your noble right wing folk... follow the money Moulder.

And remember to boycott restaurants, hotels, fruit... I guess them bluejeans are ok cause they were made by illegals in another country.

Comment by Paul7 on November 20, 2007 at 6:09am: The difference is Republicans generally get rid of their sex offenders.

We had restaurants, hotels, and fruit before we had millions of foreign nationals living here illegally. I'd rather pay another quarter for a watermelon. Whatever savings we get there is more than offset by what it costs us in crime and the drain on our social system.

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