Tom Kisken
January 20, 2001, Saturday
Copyright 2001 Ventura County Star
Ventura County Star (Ventura County, Ca.)
January 20, 2001, Saturday
(VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. -- A Ventura County Star reporter accused the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department of racial profiling, alleging a deputy interrogated him Thursday in Moorpark because he is African-American.
Mark Jennings, 24, of Oxnard, said he filed a complaint with the sheriff-run Moorpark Police Department after being stopped in the town Thursday afternoon for unlawful sales when he was actually working on a news story for the Star.
“I had to provide five IDs to prove that I wasn’t illegally soliciting and was just doing my job,” he said. “E Basically they stopped me because I was a black male walking in downtown Moorpark.”
Capt. Frank O’Hanlon, who supervises the Moorpark deputies, said the complaint will be sent to the department’s internal bureau of investigation and thoroughly investigated in a process that can take one month or as long as half a year.
“Any time racial profiling is alleged, we take it very seriously,” he said. “As you know, the sheriff and the Sheriff’s Department doesn’t tolerate racial profiling. E We’re going to give it the weight it deserves.”
O’Hanlon said he couldn’t release the name of the deputy involved and could not comment on any details of the case.
Jennings came to Ventura County from Virginia in October. He started working for the Star in October after turning down scholarships from Harvard Divinity School and the Claremont School of Theology. On Tuesday, he began working as a general assignment reporter assigned to Moorpark.
Two days later, Jennings said, he was working on a story about the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce, had just finished a cellular phone call to the office and was walking on High Street. He said a deputy made a U-turn, got out of his car and approached him.
“He said, ‘Didn’t I just talk to you yesterday?’ ” said Jennings, who answered no. “He said, ‘Yes, I did. You were out here selling cell phones.’ ”
Jennings said the deputy asked where he worked, where he lived and why his car had Washington, D.C., license plates.
Upon learning he was employed by the Star, Jennings said the deputy then said there had been problems with the newspaper soliciting sales in the area.
“He said I was illegally soliciting,” Jennings said.
When he stressed he was a reporter, the deputy asked for additional identification and then let Jennings go.
Ventura County Star President and Editor Tim Gallagher said every county resident should be sickened at the prospect of a law officer stopping people because of race. He questioned the deputy’s reasons for stopping Jennings and noted he’s not aware of previous complaints about subscription sales in downtown Moorpark.
“At its best, this is an honest mistake by an honest police officer,” Gallagher said. “At its worst, this is racial stereotyping that should have been eliminated 100 years ago.”
Sheriff Bob Brooks was not available Friday afternoon. Undersheriff Craig Husband said he hadn’t seen the complaint and couldn’t comment.
“We have to follow certain protocol,” he said, noting that Jennings and the deputy would be interviewed. “I have complete confidence in our professional standards bureau to investigate all complaints. We treat all complaints seriously.”
Jennings, who would like a public apology at a City Council meeting, noted the incident happened three days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“This is something that most people think doesn’t exist,” he said. “It seems not to exist because people don’t file formal complaints.”
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