533 26^TH Street
Suite 204
Ogden, Utah

On July 16^th, 1998, Mr. Eulogio Alejandre, director of the Migrant JTPA Program for Farmworkers, sponsored a public hearing for migrant farmworkers and their families in Ogden. About 30 people attended; the meeting was conducted in English with Spanish translation available. The following are some excerpts from the meeting:
 
 

Task Force Members Present: Ms. Paula Carr  Mr. Joseph Derring  Mr. James H. Gillespie, Jr.  Ms. Charlotte L. Miller  Mr. Phil Uipi  Judge W. Brent West

Staff: Ms. Yvette Diaz (intern)  Ms. Tricia D. Smedley (intern)  Ms. Jennifer MJ Yim (director)

POLICE ABUSE
Perception: Law enforcement abuses its authority when dealing with people of color and treats them poorly.

JTPA Program for Farm Workers Director (Eulogio Alejandre):
"A farmworker was coming in from California on his way to Idaho to harvest potatoes, a police officer pulled him over for having an open container in the car, arrested him and confiscated every document that he had: driver's license, Social Security card, INS card, etc. The next day he just let him go and said, "You have to come to court on this date." We picked him up. We couldn't help him because our program only helps legal residents or U.S. Citizens. For a month and a half this man lived "hell on earth" because he had no money, no place to stay, and we couldn't provide the services. He was able to live only by receiving handouts from the community."

Male participant (Mr. Rugeris):
"We do have cops out there that they wear the badges and they're treating like the Nazis treated, and we cannot tolerate that."

Man from Ogden:
"My brother George called me up to invite me to a party at his house, so I went over there and he had the biggest band you've ever seen. As soon as it got dark, a policeman came onto the property and said, "You turn that goddamn music down," and he turned the thing off. I asked him what the noise levels were, he said, "Shut your goddamn mouth." Just about that time seven police cars came in, with dogs and everything else. And I said, "You know what? I begin to see now what they say here in West Ogden: If you're a Mexican, that's the way you treat them, with disrespect." And he handcuffed me, the first time I've ever been charged of having a record."

Female participant (Lori Morris):
"[My brother] lived with a white lady for six years, on and off. You know, they're both alcoholics, they had trouble with their relationship. They got in a fight at her house, and she grabbed a knife, he wrestled the knife away from her, but she threw him downstairs backwards and chipped his elbows and broke his wrists. He ran out of the house. She called the cops and claimed he threw her in the car. He was legally deaf. The cops yelled at him, but he couldn't hear them. They claimed he didn't stop, so they hit him with the parole car to stop him. He got injuries in that.

"When they arrested him they charged him with three felonies: aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, and evading the police. She was the one that injured him, and she even told me he never hit her, nothing. He ended up with all the broken bones, and everything, and yet they would not let him press charges on her. They took him to jail and refused him medical treatment. They finally took him to Columbia Regional, where they verified all his injuries and then they took him back to jail and had the jail doctor check him, and they said, no, they weren't broken. He stayed in jail all the rest of April, May, June and in July they finally took him to the hospital. They verified he had broken elbows all that time and chipped wrists.

"When they finally did put the cast on him, they put removable ones. When he was trying to adjust one of them one day, he said the jailer just came in and grabbed them and took them off of him, and he never gave them back to him because he thought he was- he had something--he accused him of trying to stick the silverware or something up his cast. They took that away from him.

"And throughout this time when she knew he was out for a hospital visit, she would call the jail and tell them she thought he was out. She called 911, told them he was pounding on her door, but luckily, he was already in jail so they knew it wasn't him. But everything she would tell them, they believed."

Perception: It is more likely that persons of color will be harrassed by the police more often than others simply because of appearance.

Young Man:
"I used to work in Harrisville and I couldn't walk home without at least one or two cops shaking me down and asking me do I got drugs, what am I on. I was going to school and working at night and I found it somewhat humiliating."

Female Participant:
"My brother was outside with his friends, and the police drive by and they saw this guy---just because one of my brother's friends was looking at them, they stop, they knock him down, they were almost beating him up. And this boy just had surgery a couple of weeks ago, and they said that he was screaming, telling them to please stop because he was hurt, and they keep kicking him and they take him to jail for no reason, just because he was looking at one of them."

Young Man:
"I have a friend who spent a great deal at Toad Tape and when it got robbed, he was the first suspect. When he was in the cop car with the cop alone, he says, "Why don't you just admit that you did it and make it a lot easier for us. We know you did it. We got you on camera." But they could never prove it- there was no tape, there was no fingerprints. He was black."

Second District Court Employee:
"I have a nephew who just got his driver's license, he was 16. His grandpa bought him a little nice truck that was a low rider. He was not in any gang affiliation, a church member, etc. His mom used to prepare meals for a friend that was very ill, it just so happened that he invited me to go take this food to his mother's friend. We were up in the east side and we were pulled over by an Ogden City police officer. He told us to get out of the vehicle. He put us on the ground and we had done nothing wrong other than we were in that area. I didn't deserve to be thrown on the ground and have the officer step on my back."

Female participant:
"I had a wedding. I have 16 nephews and they're all about the same age, and I wanted a picture of all of them together. I took them all out, lined them up, and the groom. They were waiting to dance and I had all these boys out there lined up. The cops surrounded us. "What gang is this?" I says, "It's a damn family, not a gang." You know can't have a family wedding, a gathering, anything without problems, without them accusing you of being in a gang."

Recommendation:
Female participant:
"The police need to be educated. They need to take classes. You've got a lot of them out there that put their little badge on them like Hitler. We don't want aggressive officers in there, we want officers that represent everybody as a human being."

Male participant:
"The army, the navy, the air force goes into the schools and recruits the young kids to go into the military. Why can't the police officers do the same thing? Why can't they do that" You know what they tell me? "We don't want no Mexicans in our units." "Why?" I ask. They say, "Because they are all related to gang members."

Man from West Ogden:
"We need to hire more cops that are Hispanic and have those cops going to West Ogden were Hispanics live, they need to learn respect."

Female Participant (Lori Morris):
"My brother requested a jury trial and they kept putting it off. He had the Weber County public defender, I spoke with him trying to get his bail reduced, and he didn't even know he was a client. The victim's sister called me after the first meeting with the prosecutor and his attorney and told him to get him a lawyer because the lawyers in there where laughing and talking about how they're going to hang him. He was going to appear to be on his side just for appearances, but he wasn't going to do anything for him."

Man from Ogden:
"I hired a lawyer who was in the office here at Lincoln Building, you know what he did to me? He says, "Plead guilty or not guilty." Cost me 50 bucks, and I got a record, and he kept my $350."

Female Participant:
"[My father] was released from prison in 1996 and he was supposed to be on parole and then they put a deportation order against him. I appealed and I spoke to the parole officer and he told me my dad wasn't in parole. In February he was stopped again and he was taken again, the police stopped him for having beer in the car. He did the alcohol test five times because he was not even drunk. He was in jail for four weeks before he even did his plea. That judge- that public lawyer, they forced him to plead guilty. They said, "If you plead guilty, you will only be six months in jail and you will be released." That was a lie. He says that after the hearing, they started laughing at him and they told him, "You're screwed. You have to get you things ready and you're going to prison again." So he's there. He's been there since February. They say that he will not be released until January, but it will be to go back to Mexico because he will be deported."

Female participant:
"His lawyer finally came- Steve Laker came into the case and convinced him to plead guilty to one of the charges. "Plead guilty and, you'll get out of jail right now, and you'll probably end up with probation and stuff," they told him. They let him out until sentencing when another incident occurred that put him back in jail. They never heard his side of the story and he is serving zero to five. He's been in prison since September and a parole date of November."

Female Participant:
"I think there's a real problem with communication and I think the police force becomes frustrated because they can't communicate with these individuals and the individuals can't communicate with them, so they become so frustrated that they just basically throw the book at them and write them up for every charge that they can actually think of."

Female Participant:
"Even when they do communicate they don't want to believe. They won't listen to anything any Hispanic person has to say or, they just won't listen to their side of the story. Even when there was no communication problem, they don't want to hear what they have to say."

Civil Courts Attorney:
"The discrimination in the civil courts is rampant, there is no question about it. It's very difficult to get justice for a minority of any kind in the civil courts. A Korean client of mine was devastated by the way she was treated by rulings in the court. I can tell you that the rulings that came in her case bore no relation to the evidence or the law. But she was powerless, she became convinced that the courts were not there for an Asian client, they were there for the rich, the white."

Civil Courts Attorney:
"I was having lunch with a claims manager from one of the biggest insurance companies in the country and we were discussing a case with a Hispanic client. And this gentlemen told me straight out, "We don't pay the same money to an Hispanic injured in a wreck. We do not pay the same money because we know that they will not get the same money in a court case."