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Source: DodgeCity.com: Dodge Globe: Local News: Stories

People concerned about racial profiling will not come forward if they are afraid of local law enforcement officers or what they might do, a Dodge City attorney said Friday.


"Now, if they feel that Sheriff Bush cares about them or Chief Ball cares about them and doesn't necessarily want to just stop them, ask them for their driver's licenses and then call Immigration, then we might start getting somewhere," Jesse Garcia told the Governor's Task Force on Racial Profiling. "But when the sentiment is 'All we want to do is stop them and deport them,' nobody's going to come forward."
He later said his uncle was stopped by a local law enforcement officer the previous week and was later deported.


The task force is collecting data on racial profiling so it can recommend ways to stop the practice, defined as investigating someone based solely on their racial or ethnic characteristics. As part of its mission, the task force has conducted several town hall meetings across the state, including the meeting in Dodge City.
Mike Watson, who represents the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police on the task force, said he would want to know if a law enforcement officer were mistreating people in the community.


Dodge City Police Chief John Ball later said his officers aren't interested in people's immigration status. But he added that people who are stopped by a police officer will often give the officer their "work name" the name that person used to get a job and then their real name.

"So we will ask, 'Is this your work name or is this your real name?'" Ball said. "Because again, we have to identify somebody."
He said people often provide both names when asked.