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Wilmington police photo policy under fire
By ADAM TAYLOR
Staff reporter
08/25/2002
Two Wilmington police squads created in June to arrest street-level drug dealers have taken pictures of at least 200 people who were not arrested for any crimes.
The pictures, names and addresses of the people - mostly minority men - are being used to create a database of potential suspects to investigate future crimes, Police Chief Michael Szczerba said.
Legal experts and state and federal prosecutors say the tactic is legal. Criminal defense attorneys, the American Civil Liberties Union and minority groups say it is not.
City Councilman Theo K. Gregory, who is a public defender, said he thinks the photographing is unconstitutional and morally wrong.
"We should enforce the existing laws, but not violate them, to catch the bad guys," he said. "We've become the bad guys, and that's not right."
Mayor James M. Baker said criticism of the photographing is "asinine and intellectually bankrupt," and he will not stop the practice.
"I don't care what anyone but a court of law thinks," he said. "Until a court says otherwise, if I say it's constitutional, it's constitutional."
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a "database of potential suspects" before any crime is committed?
Minority Report, anyone???
By ADAM TAYLOR
Staff reporter
08/25/2002
Two Wilmington police squads created in June to arrest street-level drug dealers have taken pictures of at least 200 people who were not arrested for any crimes.
The pictures, names and addresses of the people - mostly minority men - are being used to create a database of potential suspects to investigate future crimes, Police Chief Michael Szczerba said.
Legal experts and state and federal prosecutors say the tactic is legal. Criminal defense attorneys, the American Civil Liberties Union and minority groups say it is not.
City Councilman Theo K. Gregory, who is a public defender, said he thinks the photographing is unconstitutional and morally wrong.
"We should enforce the existing laws, but not violate them, to catch the bad guys," he said. "We've become the bad guys, and that's not right."
Mayor James M. Baker said criticism of the photographing is "asinine and intellectually bankrupt," and he will not stop the practice.
"I don't care what anyone but a court of law thinks," he said. "Until a court says otherwise, if I say it's constitutional, it's constitutional."
------
a "database of potential suspects" before any crime is committed?
Minority Report, anyone???
