Chief of Police Addresses Racial Profling

As part of Race Relations Week, the Black Student Movement sponsored a brief open forum in the Upendo Lounge on the top floor of Chase Hall.

University Police Chief Derek Poarch led the forum, which was organized to discuss safety issues on campus, focusing on racial profiling against minority students and measures the University police have taken to prevent it.

Organizers said the idea for the forum originated from a list of 10 demands the student group On the Wake of Emancipation Campaign made last year. One of the demands insisted that UNC "establish an annual, mandatory sensitivity and diversity training, that includes a student focus, for ... campus police."

BSM members planned the event hoping to open channels of communication between students and DPS officials and make sure actions were being taken to prevent racial profiling.

"One of our long-term goals is to make sure (racial profiling is) dealt with in an appropriate manner," said BSM vice president Brad Picot.

The forum began after a series of announcements made to BSM members, which ultimately left Poarch with only 15 minutes to speak. With this in mind, Poarch immediately began to talk about racial profiling, using a series of rhetorical questions to engage the audience.

"Does racial profiling occur in the U.S. by police officers?" he asked. "Yes. ... We all know that. Do I have evidence that it's happened with the 44 police officers in our police department? The answer is `No.'"

After being prompted by a question from junior Michael Woods, Poarch described the many programs University police officers are required to go through to prevent racial profiling.

Programs include juvenile diversity sensitivity training and eight hours of cultural diversity training.

Poarch said that if given the proper evidence, he would do everything in his power to deal with offending officers. "If I get information brought forward to me, I'm going to treat it most seriously, and we're going to do a thorough investigation and take action," he said.

But BSM members were disappointed that the discussion wasn't more in-depth.

"I don't think everybody wanted to open up to him in front of everybody else," said senior Thurston Cherry.

But most audience members said they left the forum with a positive outlook toward more interaction with the DPS. Senior Matthew Shaw said, more than anything, he just wanted to see racial profiling come to an end.

"I just want to get to the point where that idea isn't at the back of our minds."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.