Alabama: Statewide racial profiling alleged

• Originally published in the Montgomery Advertiser February 8, 2005 01
  

Copyright 2005 The Montgomery Advertiser


By: Jannell McGrew Montgomery Advertiser

State Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, is calling on the U.S. attorney general to investigate the Alabama Department of Public Safety, all state troopers and other city and county law enforcement agencies across the state for racial profiling. Holmes forwarded his complaint to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Monday. In a one-page letter, Holmes pointed to an incident during which he said a white Alabama state trooper issued a speeding     ticket to a     black male     driver.     However,     Holmes     said the of    ficer noted     on the traf    fic ticket     that the     male driver was white. Holmes contends the officer deliberately falsified the driver's race in the report. "I am concerned with a pattern and practice and a course of conduct by law enforcement officers in Alabama to intentionally, incorrectly report the race of recipients of traffic citations as a method of hiding their efforts of racial profiling in the state of Alabama," said Holmes, head of the civil rights division of the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus. Col. Mike Coppage, director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, said he is aware of Holmes' complaint. Coppage said the matter is being investigated. "We're looking into it," Coppage said Monday. "We were made aware of it, and the supervisors in Huntsville are doing an initial investigation into the situation." The speeding ticket was issued on Jan. 12, to Gabriel A. Cottrell in St. Clair County. Cottrell was ticketed for driving 78 miles per hour in a 55 mile-per-hour zone. Holmes provided a copy of Cottrell's driver's license and the speeding ticket to the Montgomery Advertiser on Monday. "It's obvious that this man is black," Holmes said.