Last April, Emancipate NC wrote a letter to the United States Department of Justice, asking the Civil Rights Division to investigate and correct the unconstitutional policing practices of the Raleigh Police Department. We drew attention to police murders of mentally ill people, excessive use of force, racial profiling, as well as dangerous Quick Knock warrant executions that imperil the lives of civilians. USDOJ responded quickly and we met with the head of the Civil Rights Division, Kristen Clarke, last May where our team shared more about RPD’s misconduct.
Just last week, USDOJ announced that it will include RPD in a National Public Safety Partnership. A major goal of this program is to teach local police departments about “constitutional policing.”
Dawn Blagrove told ABC11, “We discussed the number of deaths at the hands of RPD within the last decade,” she said. “We talked about the concerns that we had about their proactive policing practices, and that they looked very much like unconstitutional stop and frisk, and racial profiling.”
“It appears that many of the officers that need proper oversight are not getting that oversight, and if they are getting that oversight – then there’s a much larger problem within the department as to what is acceptable in Black communities … Having policies in place is great, but if nobody is enforcing them, they don’t have a material impact on the way Black people are treated by law enforcement.”
Blagrove said she is hopeful but reserved about the outcomes of this USDOJ intervention with the Raleigh police.