Jackson Police Photographing Black Residents

Blacks Stopped, Questioned and Photographed
Jackson native Donald Wilkes recalls being stopped four years ago by an officer who questioned why he was walking through the Lambuth neighborhood after 1 a.m. ''A police officer stopped to ask me could he help me,'' said Wilkes, 53. ''I told him 'no' and kept walking. When he stopped me, he asked me what I was doing, then said he was going to take my picture.'' After a 10-minute discussion with the officer, Wilkes said he would not allow the officer to take a photo of him. ''I think when he realized that I knew my rights, he finally backed off,'' Wilkes said. Although they haven't been charged with a crime, some local residents are stopped, questioned and even photographed by Jackson Police Department officers. That information is kept on file. The practice is called a field interview and law enforcement officials are standing by it, despite some local concerns about racial profiling and statistics that show that three out of every four such photos taken in recent months were of black citizens, most black males. According to statistics provided by JPD, a total of 369 photos were taken from June to September of this year alone. Of those, 281 (76 percent) of the people photographed were black, while 88 (24 percent) were white. Out of 17 crime categories, the highest number of photographs were taken for reasons of ''suspicious circumstances.'' Of the 118 photos taken, 75 percent were of blacks. In burglary investigations, 92 percent of the 62 photos were of blacks. [more ]