The U.S. Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit on Thursday against the Alamance County sheriff, accusing him of intentionally discriminating against Latinos.
The suit, filed in the Middle District of North Carolina, comes almost three months after the justice department released findings from an investigation that was opened in June 2010 after complaints about Sheriff Terry S. Johnson.
The study found that the Alamance County sheriff's office routinely targeted Latino drivers for traffic stops.
Deputies, according to the study, were between four and 10 times more likely to stop Latino drivers at traffic stops than non-Latino drivers. Additionally, the sheriff's department routinely located checkpoints near neighborhoods with many Latino residents.
The sheriff's department, according to the justice department investigation, uses jail booking and detention practices, including practices related to immigration status checks, that discriminate against Latinos.
The sheriff and high-ranking deputies fostered a culture of bias, according to the justice department findings, by using epithets to describe Latinos and using substandard reporting and monitoring practices that masked the discriminatory conduct.
Justice department officials released a statement on Thursday, saying the suit was filed because the sheriff's office "declined to enter into meaningful settlement negotiations."
Chris Brook, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation, said Thursday in a statement that it was unfortunate the sheriff's office had refused to comply with requests from the Justice Department to address the findings of widespread discrimination. The ACLU urged the department to change course.
"Doing so would not only save Alamance County taxpayers potentially thousands of dollars in legal fees, but help to rebuild trust among the community by guaranteeing that all residents of Alamance County receive fair and equal treatment from law enforcement," Brook said.
Copyright 2012 - The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
