The Antelope Valley Times

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Sheriff’s freeway arrests under investigation

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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County inspector general has launched an investigation into whether a Sheriff’s Department highway enforcement team engaged in racial profiling when it stopped thousands of innocent Latino drivers in search of drugs on the 5 Freeway, it was reported Monday.

The probe follows a report in the Los Angeles Times that nearly 70 percent of drivers stopped from 2012 through last year were Latino and that two- thirds of them had their vehicles searched — a rate far higher than motorists of other racial and ethnic groups.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis asked the inspector general and the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission to conduct the review of the department’s Domestic Highway Enforcement Team.

“It’s deeply concerning that racial profiling could have been used on Latino drivers,” Solis said in a statement, adding that The Times’report warrants a deeper investigation.

In a statement, Sheriff Jim McDonnell said he was proud of the team’s work, which includes confiscating 3,500 pounds of drugs and rescuing six victims of human trafficking. He said he looks “forward to working closely with the inspector general to examine any issues of concern.”

“As someone who has dedicated my career to protecting the civil rights of all people, I am personally concerned about any allegation of racial and ethnic profiling and take very seriously questions about race and police procedures,” McDonnell said.

Inspector General Max Huntsman declined to comment on the scope of the review or how long it would take, The Times reported. Deputies on the team have denied racial profiling and insisted that they base their stops only on a person’s driving and other impartial factors.

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Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

37 comments for "Sheriff’s freeway arrests under investigation"

  1. Well duh…most of the drivers are Latino or Hispanic…however you want to be labeled. Could that possibly be why the high percentage of Latino drivers were stopped?

  2. Maybe cause most of the drugs are coming from Mexico. Racial Profiling is nothing but good police work. It’s called street smarts. I see nothing wrong with it at all. There must be a reason for sterotyping.

    • More than 72,000 people died from drug overdoses between January2017 and January 2018. The driving force is the dangerous class of synthetic opioids called fentanyl’s, predominately the medical painkiller fentanyl. Because of the lack of pharmaceutical regulations, the supply comes from China. Also, due to a spate of drug overdoses in a well-to-do community (Santa Clarita), (DHET) was put together to stop and search (profile) Latino drivers. It’s all about a certain person looking good.

    • Lots of Rons commit crimes. We should preemptively shoot all the Rons. Might not be fair, but no skin to me since I’m not a Ron. Let’s get started.

      • Ron is commenting on the article, and I don’t agree with his opinion, but I can see that your fallacious ad hominem attack has nothing to do with an intelligent argument. You think too highly of yourself.

      • LOL…and another one demonstrates something completely at odds with what they want to demonstrate.

        For anyone like Old Vet who still doesn’t get the point, consider my response to Ron as a simple illustration by substitution rather than an ad hominem attack…which it not only isn’t, but doesn’t even resemble.

        “Ron is a degenerate liar” would be an example of a possible ad hominem…attacking the person making the observation in order to detract from the observation itself without actually addressing it.

        A hilariously common ad hominem that we can see in use right here is “you are just using ad hominems.” Two people have either failed to grasp the simple illustration, or they disagree with what it illuminated, and rather than deal with that they want to distract from the point with an ad hominem attack on me.

          • “Straw man straw man” is another one that is right up there with ad hominem. People who have no idea what a straw man argument actually looks like tend to randomly drop the term like it’s a magic talisman.

    • Maybe they should do racial profiling on you white folks outside every gun store since you folks love walking into schools and public places killing innocent kids & people for no reason you never hear blacks or Hispanics doing some petty sh** like that

    • Actually, they were enforcing traffic laws on the freeway rather than using traffic laws as a pretense to conduct searches without warrants. One is doing their job, the other is abusing their authority.

      • They were using so- called traffic infractions as a pretext to conduct searches. When they didn’t find what they were looking for, then the traffic infraction was no more.

  4. An exemplary leader does not live by “the end justifies the means,” but by ensuring the means and the end are justifiably executed.

  6. They call it profiling. I call it doing there job right. They know what they are doing. There is too much drugs being smuggled and crimes related to drugs. There is too much crime going on and some want to complain its profiling? If old Asian Females were smuggling drugs and committing the majority of crimes, they would be pulling them over more than others.

    • Brians commit plenty of crimes. I think shooting all the Brians preemptively might be a good idea. Even if it isn’t, it’s not like it would have any impact on me, so might as well try it.

      • Maybe cause most of the drugs are coming from Mexico. Thank You Law Enforcement. BUILD THE WALL!!! BUILD THE WALL,!!!! TRUMP2020!,!!!!!

        • Seized drugs, raids, and sting operations grab headlines, but do nothing to curb the voracious appetite of the American people to get their fix. Whether it’s from big Pharma, doctor’s that supply opiates to the hungry citizens, pill mills run by doctors for profit, etc. The supply will never be cut off, because America demands that their supply is met. It isn’t personal to the supplier, because it’s about the revenue. Border patrol turning a blind eye, due to pay offs, and the middle men on down to the street dealer. The war on drugs is a complete failure, because most American citizens are addicted to some form of mind altering substance, including alcohol.

  7. If the Los Angeles Area is majority-Hispanic, doesn’t it reason that a majority of those being pulled over by the police will be Hispanic too?

    And, I’m sure the cops doing the stops were also Hispanic.

    So…basically…it was a non-issue that has been taken and made into an “issue”.

    Nice.

  8. I don’t care what they, did because six victims of human trafficking were saved. That is all I need to hear. I am Hispanic and have been pulled over too, stop crying.

    • Well, they say that six victims of human trafficking were saved. If you have a friend who is undocumented riding in your car with you an overzealous prosecutor might charge you with “human trafficking.” Notice that they do NOT say that anyone was charged with kidnapping.

  10. Racial profiling works and is done to every race. How many Mexican or black men get audited by the IRS compared to White or Asian guys. I’d rather have the cops pulling me over searching my car than getting that letter in the mail from the tax man. 3500 pounds of drugs off the streets I feel was worth every stop legal or not.

  11. “The team was launched as a response to a spate of drug overdoses in the Santa Clarita area…”

    From an article published by the LAT…

  12. “Rescued victims of human trafficking” is sheriff’s department doublespeak. What it actually means is they pulled over a car and found out a passenger was an undocumented person. Then they arrested the driver on the BS charge so they could confiscate the car and sell it at auction. This little revenue stream is why they are so opposed to the restrictions about doing paper checks whenever they feel like it.

  14. ANOTHER REASON WE NEED ALEX VILLANUEVA AS SHERIFF JIM MCDONNELL HASNT DONE SHHHIT TO REFORM OUR SHERIFFS DEPT

    • Sheriff Jim McDonnell is responsible for racial profiling, starting with himself, and working on down the line. A woman is suing the department for racial profiling because Jim McDonnell falsely claimed a black woman stabbed a 66 year old white woman in Rancho Palos Verdes Mall back in May. They gave a press conference naming this woman, and kept her five days in jail, telling her they were confident in her guilt. She was innocent.

  15. There are some that do their job with great integrity, but too many out there need to be called out by their own, and exposed.

  16. “Deputies on the team have denied racial profiling and insisted that they base their stops only on a person’s driving and other impartial factors.” Wow, load of cow pie!

    • Well the words came from your mouth if they’re basing it off a person’s driving we all know Mexicans can’t drive good job shares