In response to widespread dissent over a new method to apprehend the serial rapist, University students, faculty and other community members met with local police officials in an open forum last night to address concerns with what some are calling "racial profiling" by police.
In its ongoing hunt for the serial rapist, the Charlottesville Police Department recently implemented a new strategy to aid in the investigation. Under the new system, certain black men are asked to voluntarily undergo a DNA test called a buccal swab test in order to eliminate their names from a database of contacts.
African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner opened the forum with an address to an audience of more than 50 people, including six local television news networks. Turner said the impetus for the meeting was the case of graduate Education student Steven Turner, who was stopped by police officers on two separate occasions to give a DNA sample but declined both times.
"I understood that a person would be stopped for a reason," M. Rick Turner said.
M. Rick Turner also said, however, that repeated requests by police officers for DNA samples from those who do not consent to take the test can be seen as a civil rights violation.
"I believe that we have some officers here who are untrained," he said. "This is bordering on violating someone's civil rights. Now all of this might be legal...but it's not right."
M. Rick Turner emphasized that the police should use a less "threatening and intimidating" method in their pursuit of the serial rapist.
"I know the police have to do their work," Turner said. "I want them to do their work. But I want trained policeman to approach African-American men with some sense of respect."
Steven Turner questioned the nature of the investigation, raising a concern of whether current police tactics are incidents of racial profiling.
"Because the suspect is a black man, every black man is suspect," Steven Turner said. "The more indiscriminate the search, the closer it is to discrimination."
Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., Steven Turner said he "cannot be silent, and will not be silent."
"Charlottesville, I know you can hear me," he said, "but is anyone listening?"
Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo led the discussion, saying he was up to the challenge and the opportunity to address community concerns, especially those pertaining to alleged racial profiling.
In response to a question of whether such a tactic would be used if the suspect was not a black male, Longo said the same method would be used regardless of race or gender.
"From an investigative standpoint, it's a tried and proven and highly conclusive strategy," Longo said. "If they're legally permissible, we have to evaluate them, and that's what we've done here."
Longo added that all police officials involved have gone through training in "bias-based policing."
Detective Sgt. Ralph Barfield, an expert in forensics and DNA, said the system is new and everyone is learning how to use the new technology.
"In defense of what we're doing, I'd say we're doing the best we can as we go," Barfield said.
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