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Groups call for easing of tensions
The Huntington-Cabell Branch of the NAACP President Sylvia C. Ridgeway, center, speaks during a joint press conference with Huntington's Black Pastor Ministerial Association at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009.
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HUNTINGTON -- Leaders of two Huntington groups said Wednesday they are concerned about rising tensions between the black community and Huntington police.
Contributing to their worry are the recent nightclub shooting in which a police officer killed a black man and complaints from black residents that they have been racially profiled by law enforcement, said representatives of the Huntington-Cabell Branch of the NAACP and the Huntington Black Pastors' Ministerial Association.
About a dozen members of the two groups attended a joint private press conference at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
"This conference is not an indictment of the Huntington Police Department, the West Virginia State Police or the Cabell County Sheriff's Office," Sylvia Ridgeway, president of the local NAACP chapter, said.
"The community continues to need the police to stop illegal activities such as prostitution and drug trafficking," she said.
The groups want police to continue to do their job but to ensure that they are doing it fairly.
"We want police presence in the neighborhood, but not do it based on race or what kind of car you drive," the Rev. Roy Terry, president of the Huntington Black Pastors' Ministerial Association, said. "The major purpose of what we're trying to do is ease tensions between the community and police."
They said the black community feels much more tense since the Nov. 8 shooting death of Huntington man Joe Jeremaine Porter at a nightclub on 4th Avenue. Porter was shot by a Huntington police officer, whom the department still has not identified. Police said Porter pointed a gun at the officer. Three other people received gunshot wounds before police arrived at the club that early morning.
Police would not comment Wednesday on the investigation because it is still ongoing.
Ridgeway and Terry said black residents feel like they are being profiled.
Ridgeway said one person has complained that he or she had been pulled over about 11 times in the past few months without cause listed and without a citation issued.
Another man was stopped while walking his dog after dark, Terry said.
"There have been numerous complaints," said Terry. "An 18-year-old Marshall student was pulled over and received no citation or cause from officers."
Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook said in a release that he would have attended the press conference had it not been closed to the public. He also said it is frustrating to hear concerns as serious as racial profiling through a press conference rather than a dialogue of concerned leaders.
In the release, Holbrook said the department has a protocol to respond to any citizen complaint or report or misconduct, and he takes pride in the department's ability to provide organizational transparency.
Ultimately, though, he said he understands he must take the lead.
"I alone take full responsibility for the policies and practices of the Huntington Police personnel," he said. "I am confident in their abilities to exercise their duties with distinction, integrity and fairness. It is imperative that the community and law enforcement partner together to solve the problems that plague our community."
The NAACP is filing a request with local law enforcement agencies to provide racial profiling data, per West Virginia State Code, within the next 10 days. Ridgeway said they are requesting two years of data.
Holbrook said there is other important statistics that the community should be aware of. Since the Huntington Weed and Seed initiative began, the focus on the Fairfield neighborhoods have increased considerably.
According to the 2009 report, 93 arrests were made for violent crimes, while only 27 were made in 2005. Holbrook also said that Fairfield carries the some of the highest rates of crime and poverty levels in Huntington's city limits.
At the conclusion of the Tuesday press conference, Ridgeway asked that anyone who feels they have been the victim of racial profiling should contact the NAACP by mail at P.O. Box 1446, Huntington, WV 25716.
