CLAYTON • The Missouri State Conference of the NAACP has filed a federal civil rights complaint alleging that some St. Louis County police officers racially profiled blacks in and around stores in south St. Louis County — and that racism is rampant in the department’s hiring, firing and discipline.
Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis chapter of the NAACP and legal redress chair for the state conference, provided this week a copy of the Title VI complaint to the U.S. Justice Department. It was filed Nov. 25. Washington has yet to respond, Pruitt said.
If the complaint were sustained, it could cost St. Louis County government its federal funding until all requirements of the Civil Rights Act are met. But that remedy has never been used, according to the Justice website. The Office of Civil Rights has processed 346 discrimination complaints in the past four years. All have been resolved voluntarily, the website says.
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Police Chief Tim Fitch said he had not seen the complaint but rejected the accusations.
He told a reporter: “Based on what you’ve told me about the report, there are many inaccuracies and I’d love to be these officers or their attorneys. I certainly hope that Mr. Pruitt or his insurance company has deep pockets.”
He added, “Do you know what it’s like for an officer to be accused of racial profiling? It’s career ending. But (Pruitt) has no regard for the facts and how it’s going to affect their lives and their careers.”
Fitch said he had promoted more African-Americans within the department than anyone in its history. He said he named Ken Gregory, who is black, to lieutenant colonel, the highest rank below chief.
The chief also said the department had the highest number of blacks it had employed — several hired on referrals from the St. Louis County NAACP chapter.
That chapter’s vice president, the Rev. B.T. Rice, called Pruitt’s allegations “baseless and unfounded.” Rice said the county NAACP had conducted its own investigation and found no evidence of racial profiling.
Fitch, who described himself as an NAACP member, said he welcomed a federal investigation because, “The facts will speak for themselves.”
Pruitt said he began investigating after the firing of Lt. Patrick “Rick” Hayes, accused by the department of ordering his officers to target blacks in and around South County Center.
Fitch has said he is confident that none of Hayes’ officers followed those instructions.
Pruitt said he found it impossible to believe that as many as nine officers who said they heard those commands didn’t comply. In his complaint, Pruitt summarizes interviews with 14 blacks out of at least 60 he says claim they were arrested by one of two officers within a 30-day period. They describe being stopped without probable cause and arrested on outstanding warrants, he said.
Pruitt also alleges the department has imposed lighter penalties on white officers than blacks after incidents such as soliciting prostitutes, on-duty drunken driving accidents and sexual harassment.
And he says department officials frequently attend conferences to recruit black officers but so far have hired only one as a result.
“Why keep going back to the well for water when the well is dry? Is it just to say you went to the well in the first place?” Pruitt asked.
Pruitt noted that the St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners rejected Fitch’s recommendation that the University of California, Los Angeles examine the department’s arrest data for signs of racial profiling.
Board Chairman Roland Corvington said a majority of the board voted to postpone the analysis until after a hearing for Hayes, who has invoked his right to have a police board trial in an effort to regain his job. A hearing is pending.
Shortly after that vote, three board members resigned for various reasons. Corvington explained that he did not vote to postpone the study. “I believed at that time that it was a good idea,” he said, adding that he intended to renew the proposal.
The issue began in late 2012 with the arrival of three anonymous letters to Fitch and Gregory, signed only “Lonewolf,” that accused Hayes of making racist remarks and encouraging the targeting of blacks.
The writer, county police Sgt. Dan O’Neil, has since revealed himself and complained that the department retaliated against him.
