Picture Imperfect

The Seattle chapter of the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is accusing the Seattle
Police Department (SPD) and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of
racial profiling after two SPD officers, accompanied by P-I reporter Casey McNerthney, stopped and frisked a group of four black
teenagers earlier this month. The NAACP says the officers targeted the
group to give the P-I a good story and a photo opportunity.

The article, which ran on the front page of the P-I on
February 9, featured two Seattle officers, Adley Shepherd and Jake
Briskey, who are known for their work with gangs in the South End.
Shepherd is black; Briskey is white.

“Shepherd and Briskey have put themselves on the front lines of
Seattle’s gang problem, and they see firsthand a street culture that
results in a deadly cycle of violence,” McNerthney wrote. “[The pair]
said repeat contacts give them a sixth sense about behaviors and that
mutual respect really does work with gang members.”

According to statements by two of the boys who were stopped by
Briskey and Shepherd, the group of teens had just left a screening of
Taken at the Columbia City Cinema at around 9:30 p.m. and were
waiting for a ride from one boy’s grandfather.

As the group stood outside the theater, according to a statement
written by one of the boys, 13, a black police cruiser pulled out of a
nearby alley. Officer Shepherd rolled down his window and asked the
group where they were from.

According to the boys’ written statements, the group told Shepherd
they were from the Central District. “You must be in a gang because
you’re out so late,” the 13-year-old’s statement says Shepherd shot
back. Then, according to the boy, Shepherd asked one of the boys why he
was “wearing so much gray,” implying he was wearing gang colors.
According to the 13-year-old’s statement, Shepherd also asked one of
the boys if he had a street name. When the boy said no, the statement
says, Shepherd laughed and asked him, “What, you don’t have any street
cred?”

Officer Shepherd brought two of the boys back to the car, both
statements say, and patted them down while a P-I photographer
snapped photos. One of the other teens, a 16-year-old, told The
Stranger that Officer Shepherd walked around the car “making
superhero-looking poses.” The 13-year-old’s statement also says, “It
seemed as though it was a photo shoot, because Officer Shepherd was
posing for the camera.” None of the boys was arrested.

According to the P-I article, the officers told McNerthney it
was “a slow night.”

“They were trying to liven up an article,” says Yolanda Bell, the
mother of the 16-year-old boy targeted by Shepherd and Briskey. “This
officer picked four of the squarest kids.”

Bell says when her son came home from the movie and told her he’d
been the victim of police harassment, “I laughed and said ‘go to bed.’
I kind of made an excuse for the officers. It’s tough times out
there.”

On Monday, however, Bell saw the article, which included a photo of
her son, and hit the roof. “How can they come to the conclusion that my
son is a gang member? I work hard to keep my son out of gangs,” she
says. “They were profiling my son.”

Bell says she contacted the P-I about getting her son’s photo
removed from the website but says an editor at the paper hung up on
her. Bell then contacted the NAACP for help.

In September, Seattle NAACP president James Bible held a press
conference to draw attention to complaints of racial profiling by SPD
officers. This incident, Bible says, is just another example.

“We would be deeply concerned if this was a photo op for law
enforcement to further perpetuate the myth that African Americans are
dangerous in our community,” Bible says, adding that the NAACP wants to
set up a meeting with editors at the paper. P-I managing editor
David McCumber did not return an e-mail seeking comment. “We hope first
to develop an understanding of why the picture was taken,” Bible says.
“An apology is, I think, a first step.”

McNerthney, the article’s author, says he hasn’t heard from the
families or the NAACP about the story: “One of the first messages I did
get was from Officer Shepherd, who liked the article and said it was
fair. Both [photographer Mike Kane] and I discussed the story with
editors, and we will continue to pass feedback on to them.”

SPD spokesman Jeff Kappel also says he has not received any
complaints about the article.