Police description leads to profiling allegation
By Alicia Ebaugh Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, December 01, 2005
When Vermillion, S.D., police released a description and sketch of a man they believe attacked two women early this month, officials said including the man's supposed race -- Native American -- was not racial profiling.
Now some people in the college town are claiming otherwise, maintaining that in the days since the description was published many Native American men have been treated with suspicion in the community.
For this reason, a panel discussion including Vermillion Police Chief Art Mabry and two co-founders of the American Indian Movement is scheduled today. Panel organizer Cori Bazemore, 19-year-old president of the University of South Dakota's Tiospaye Union, the Native American student association, said she hopes the discussion will resolve some of the problems the situation has presented.
"There's got to be a way to find justice for those girls without making more victims in the process," Bazemore said.
On Nov. 7, a man broke into a woman's residence in the 800 block of East Duke Street in Vermillion and attempted to rape her, according to police reports. Another, possibly related attack on the USD campus happened five hours earlier when a female student was grabbed from behind while she was taking trash out to a dumpster.
The suspect is still at large.
Police Chief Mabry said that police later included the suspect's race in his description because the woman who was attacked in her home was able to give them a "very good" one -- and she said she was sure he was Native American, he said.
"We are very confident her description is accurate; we have no reason to doubt it," Mabry said. "She was able to tell us he had a pierced ear, and she had to be pretty close to him to see that."
Law enforcement policies that address racial profiling issues say that race or ethnicity may be used if police have other information about the suspect.
USD Dean of Students Terisa Remelius said that she had no qualms with posting the suspect's description and sketch on campus, even if it included his race, because it is the university's job to protect students.
"If we receive credible information from the police department, we need to put it out there so our students and community members can protect themselves," Remelius said. "It would even have been inconsistent to alter it -- if our students saw other information on TV or in the newspaper, they might think we were sugar-coating something or trying to hide facts."
But Bazemore said shortly after the fliers were posted, some people started being more suspicious of Native American men in the community -- including her boyfriend, 23-year-old Jamie Burnette.
"When I read the description, I could think of a lot of guys who could possibly fit that -- short hair, glasses, a mustache -- and my boyfriend is one of them," she said. "He started getting a lot of crap from his boss, from other people. It's gotten to the point where just when I'm walking with him I feel guilty because of the way people are staring."
Burnette, who works as a custodian in USD's Brookman Hall, said when he went to work the day after the attacks happened, his boss asked him if his leg hurt.
"I said, 'What do you mean does it hurt?' and he said, 'Didn't you get kicked in the leg last night attacking that girl?'" Burnette said. "I told him it was annoying, to stop, but he kept joking about it. A week later he even said it in front of students."
Burnette said he was also questioned by police about the incident nearly two weeks after it happened. They came to his workplace and asked if he could go back to the police station, he said.
"I was there for about an hour," Burnette said. "They asked some questions and took fingerprints ... I felt like a suspect."
Although Bazemore said police have questioned numerous Native American men, Mabry said the department has brought in only seven men for questioning -- four of whom were Native American.
"We've received more than 100 tips, most of which haven't panned out," he said.
And though the panel discussion will hopefully create a meaningful dialogue, Mabry said no one contacted the police department about the issue before it was put together.
"Clearly there is a perception among at least a few people that we are racially profiling, and I am sensitive to that ... they never gave us an opportunity to address it," he said.
Now some people in the college town are claiming otherwise, maintaining that in the days since the description was published many Native American men have been treated with suspicion in the community.
For this reason, a panel discussion including Vermillion Police Chief Art Mabry and two co-founders of the American Indian Movement is scheduled today. Panel organizer Cori Bazemore, 19-year-old president of the University of South Dakota's Tiospaye Union, the Native American student association, said she hopes the discussion will resolve some of the problems the situation has presented.
"There's got to be a way to find justice for those girls without making more victims in the process," Bazemore said.
On Nov. 7, a man broke into a woman's residence in the 800 block of East Duke Street in Vermillion and attempted to rape her, according to police reports. Another, possibly related attack on the USD campus happened five hours earlier when a female student was grabbed from behind while she was taking trash out to a dumpster.
The suspect is still at large.
Police Chief Mabry said that police later included the suspect's race in his description because the woman who was attacked in her home was able to give them a "very good" one -- and she said she was sure he was Native American, he said.
"We are very confident her description is accurate; we have no reason to doubt it," Mabry said. "She was able to tell us he had a pierced ear, and she had to be pretty close to him to see that."
Law enforcement policies that address racial profiling issues say that race or ethnicity may be used if police have other information about the suspect.
USD Dean of Students Terisa Remelius said that she had no qualms with posting the suspect's description and sketch on campus, even if it included his race, because it is the university's job to protect students.
"If we receive credible information from the police department, we need to put it out there so our students and community members can protect themselves," Remelius said. "It would even have been inconsistent to alter it -- if our students saw other information on TV or in the newspaper, they might think we were sugar-coating something or trying to hide facts."
But Bazemore said shortly after the fliers were posted, some people started being more suspicious of Native American men in the community -- including her boyfriend, 23-year-old Jamie Burnette.
"When I read the description, I could think of a lot of guys who could possibly fit that -- short hair, glasses, a mustache -- and my boyfriend is one of them," she said. "He started getting a lot of crap from his boss, from other people. It's gotten to the point where just when I'm walking with him I feel guilty because of the way people are staring."
Burnette, who works as a custodian in USD's Brookman Hall, said when he went to work the day after the attacks happened, his boss asked him if his leg hurt.
"I said, 'What do you mean does it hurt?' and he said, 'Didn't you get kicked in the leg last night attacking that girl?'" Burnette said. "I told him it was annoying, to stop, but he kept joking about it. A week later he even said it in front of students."
Burnette said he was also questioned by police about the incident nearly two weeks after it happened. They came to his workplace and asked if he could go back to the police station, he said.
"I was there for about an hour," Burnette said. "They asked some questions and took fingerprints ... I felt like a suspect."
Although Bazemore said police have questioned numerous Native American men, Mabry said the department has brought in only seven men for questioning -- four of whom were Native American.
"We've received more than 100 tips, most of which haven't panned out," he said.
And though the panel discussion will hopefully create a meaningful dialogue, Mabry said no one contacted the police department about the issue before it was put together.
"Clearly there is a perception among at least a few people that we are racially profiling, and I am sensitive to that ... they never gave us an opportunity to address it," he said.
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