On October 22nd and 23rd, law enforcement agencies in several parishes participated in a multi-jurisdictional Taskforce sweep in South Monroe that allegedly targeted violent criminals in Ouachita Parish. We are weary of these targeted sweeps because the poor and blacks are usually the targets and never the affluent.
Last month’s sweep involved over 100 police officers, helicopters, and armed tactical units from several parishes. It amounted to an expensive practice using minorities and the poor as guinea pigs but netted very little results in proportion to the manpower used.
The results was a great photo opportunity for politicians to appear tough on crime, but with the exception of six violent suspects it did nab, it was mostly a practice exercise for the cameras using our people as the props.
When it was over they announced that 120 violent criminals had been arrested. In reality, there were 81 individuals, most of whom were not violent criminals but persons who smoked marijuana or other drug users. To pump up the numbers, some had multiple charges, including traffic violations added to their offenses.
We are concerned because of the 81 targeted suspects, all but nine of them were African-American. All of them were poor and most of them were not violent criminals as advertised.
We find it hard to believe that only blacks and poor people smoke marijuana in Ouachita Parish.
We find it equally hard to believe that the use of illegal drugs and opiods are restricted only to South Monroe.
We resent rather than applaud massive sweeps that target blacks and poor whites, but ignore the same activities among the affluent.
Using opiods, meth and smoking marijuana are considered “medical issues” among the affluent, but among blacks and poor whites, it is considered criminal.
We do not endorse the use of any illegal drugs, but we are opposed to selective law enforcement. We don’t appreciate being profiled and targeted by law enforcement for publicity stunts.
Thirty-one of the 81 suspects had no other charge against them other than the fact that they possessed marijuana. One had a pot plant in his house. There are now 31 black man with criminal records for the rest of their lives, who won’t be able to get jobs and find doors slammed in their faces.
Ironically, possession of marijuana is not considered criminal in more than half of states in the USA. Even Louisiana has approved medical marijuana which is just inches away from decriminalization. Within two years, pot will be fully legal in Louisiana, but these 31 men will be tagged as criminals for the rest of their lives.
Nineteen of the 81 arrested were users of CDS (Controlled Dangerous Substances) a catch-all charge that includes opiods, Meth and other hallucinogens.
To using informants and sources, the sweep correctly identified and arrested six men accused of murder in one or more parishes; that was a good thing, but six wasn’t a good number to report to the media. So they targeted people who might be criminals because of their color or neighborhood and kept searching until they found enough people to justify 100 officers converging a single parish.
They staged traffic stops in the black community. They stopped 189 automobiles without probable cause and stumbled upon a few pot smokers to add to the list.
They stopped 50 pedestrians on the street, who looked criminal and landed a few more.
They staged 20 “knock and talk” home entries and busted a few more users.
A knock and talk is a trick used by police to gain entry into a residence without a search warrant. The officer knocks on the door and asks permission to enter the house and while the door is cracked and talking to the person who answers the door he looks for illegal substances or activities. Once the officer is given permission or sees anything illegal a warrant is not needed.
The knock and talks netted a few more pot smokers.
The knock and talks, and other tactics netted 20 firearms, but only seven persons were charged having illegal firearms. Some found themselves charged because they had a legal weapon in the presence of drugs, which is also a crime.
All of this happened in the Black neighborhood. There were no “knock and talks” in North Monroe or in areas where the affluent live.
Since mostly drug users and not violent criminals were the targets of the sweep, no one can explain why drug users who live in North Monroe were not targets.
We commend law enforcement for arresting the six murder suspects, but we condemn targeted sweeps that profile poor people and blacks specifically.
This type of racial profiling does little to promote respect for law enforcement in our area.
We can do better.
