“You can sense a different tone, how they act towards you. When I get pulled over, I’m not going to lie, I get nervous,” said an African-American student who asked that his name not be used. Charges of racial profiling have become an everyday news event. Students at Cabrini have expressed their fears as well. “I try to do the most that I can to avoid the situation. I try to have all of my stuff out. You have to explain everything that you’re doing. If you make a sudden movement, you never know…”
The students enrolled in Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald’s Intro to Black Studies class have recently expressed their concerns about feeling racially profiled on the Main Line. The students are worried that if and when they get pulled over for something as little as a tail light being out, the police officer who pulled them over will assume the worst from them due to their race . The African-American students who expressed these concerns feel as if police officers think that they are lying, no matter what the situation is.
“We all have a racial and gender profile,” said Fitzgerald. “How we are treated depends on how people view our profile.”
Other students in Fitzgerald’s class have told their professor that police officers on the Main Line often assume that there are drugs in their cars, that they are not driving their own cars, or that the student is lying about the situation overall, just because of their color.
Superintendent Christopher Flanagan of the Radnor Township police department – Radnor Township is where Cabrini University is located – explained that there are few complaints that Radnor police have received in regards to racial profiling.
“Radnor police do not receive a lot of police complaints in totality. There are times when people are questionings why they are stopped, or about how the officer took action, or if they didn’t like a citation that was issued, but we have been able to work out almost 100 percent of the issues by having an open discussion,” Flanagan said.
Fitzgerald calls racial profiling “an unnecessary burden, a toxic stressor for students to endure, as well as a violation of their civil liberties.”
The African-American students in Fitzgerald’s class expressed that being racially profiled was not something they were always afraid of. Fitzgerald explained that in the 1980s, police looked for white males with long hair, typically those driving sporty cars. In recent years, many believe that police officers are looking for young black males.
“I feel like now it’s happening to younger people,” said another African-American student who also asked Loquitur not to use his name. “We’re all growing up. We have cars now and we’re all moving around. I feel like before it wasn’t getting talked about as much because cops we’re going after adults, rather than 16, 17 and 18 year olds.”
A third African-American student in Fitzgerald’s class talked about the worst experience he had while being pulled over. He was the only one of his friends who was under the legal drinking age, so he was the designated driver.
“There was a time when I got pulled over and I was DDing [designated driving] for somebody, so it was a car full of me and my boys, and a cop pulled me over,” said the student, who asked that his name not be used. “He just made me get out of the car and he asked if there were any drugs or alcohol inside of the car, [I explained to him] that the guys in the back seat had a bottle but they were all 21 years old… I said, ‘I am the only one in the car that’s not 21. I’m the designated driver.'”
The police officer who had pulled over this particular student insisted that he had marijuana in his car.
“[He said,] ‘Well your car smells like weed.’ [I said] ‘Sir, there’s no weed in the car at all.’ He said, ‘Well it smells like weed, so if you just wanna tell me that weed in there or I’m gonna call’ [for backup,]” the student said.
He then explained that after the police officer had “hassled” him, he let him go.
Cabrini students of color say they are feeling racially profiled on Cabrini’s campus as well as on the Main Line. Another student in Fitzgerald’s class had explained that during the second semester of her freshman year of college, she was the master learner for a learning community on campus. During this time, she received several hate letters and messages underneath of her door.
The same student had also explained that she, too, has felt racially profiled on the Main Line. In an instance where she needed an ambulance, she felt as if the EMTs that were working with her were treating her differently than they would have treated a student who did not belong to a minority racial class. Because of these circumstances, this student is now commuting to Cabrini.
A racial imbalance between the population of the township and the police departments exists. African-Americans only represent 2.6 percent of the Tredyffrin-Easttown Township and roughly 93.5 percent of police officers in Lower Merion Township are caucasian, according to an article on Phillymag.com.
The racial makeup on Cabrini’s campus is definitely different than that of the surrounding townships. 40.8 percent of students at Cabrini University belong to a different racial group than Caucasian.
Flanagan recognizes the challenge of numerous universities in Radnor Township. He has been a police officer for over 21 years and superintendent of Radnor police for six months. He said that the Radnor police deal with many college students, since Radnor and the bordering towns are very heavily populated with colleges.
There is an added pressure to police on the job, especially when dealing with a person who feels like they are being profiled. Because so many incidents have been caught on video of police and minorities in confrontation, some people have a preconceived idea of how the police will act, Flanagan said.
“Police often see people on the worst days if their lives,” said Fitzgerald. “It needs to be understood – but not excused – as to why there is unfair treatment to anyone.”
Flanagan said video recording has helped in revealing the whole story that occurs during police encounters. Often times false reports can be made against police and now there is proof of how the whole situation goes down with the help of in car and body cameras for officers.
“We have seen an improvement in situations due to the video cameras, help from other witnesses and officers being very well trained. All of those things molded with our values for the township and values towards people, officers are enabled to use every tool possible to treat others with respect,” said Flanagan.
Radnor police go through extensive training that exceeds state requirements. Within the past five years, the department has begun Anti-Defamation League (ADL) trainings that teach officers how to defend against “threats to our very democracy, including cyberhate, bullying, bias in schools and in the criminal justice system, terrorism, hate crimes, coercion of religious minorities and contempt for anyone who is different.”
Flanagan said Radnor Township police do their best to build positive relationships with the community and invite citizens to get involved. Programs such as the Citizens Police Academy and the Radnor Community Youth Aid Panel Program allow citizens to interact with police and get a better understanding of the job they do and how they do it.
“I just ask people to get involved where they live, where they go to school… get involved. Come take a tour of the police station, come meet our people, come do a ride along,” said Flanagan. “If you think that something happened to you that was wrong, then please report it. There are some things that happen that are wrong, but wrongdoings and illegal activity done by police is not tolerated anywhere.”
