I’m going to tell you about a couple incidents with the San DiegoPolice Department in which, unlike my experiences with the San DiegoState University police, the officers didn’t play by the rules ortook extreme liberties in interpreting them.

I was getting off the bus. It was nighttime, and I noticed somepolice sirens about a block away. I decided to practice my right toobserve. I saw three to four Asian juveniles lined up on the curb andtheir cars being searched with the doors and trunks open. A localresident told me the kids being detained and possibly arrested causedall kinds of noise periodically.

A junior officer approached me and asked what I’m doing there.Past experience told me to deal with the senior man, so I asked him”Are you the senior man?” He replied “No, he is.” The sergeant askedme if I’m a lawyer. I said “No, I’m a concerned citizen who believesthat government bears watching.” He asked if I had any ID. I showedhim my ID and he started to heavily admonish me about not having mycorrect address on my ID. Then he started wanting to know where Iworked, saying that he wanted to observe me. I told him that I workedat a school but refused to reveal anything further. So he persistedinterrogating me as if I was a prisoner of war.

His junior, who originally made the contact with me, said that Imatched the description of a suspect, asked me if I minded beingpatted down; I told him I did, and then he did it anyway, and evensaid, “Well I’m going to do it anyway.” Then he told me to sit on thecurb. The incriminating point here is while I’m told I look like oneof the suspects, none of the questioning is based on the case.Everything being said to me revolved around the sergeant’sfrustration at my desire to exercise my right to observe. Heconcluded by asking me if I had a mental condition; if I liked goingthrough this. I told him I would discuss it with his supervisor. Heasked what I thought that would do. I honestly replied probably notmuch. I also told him that people have gone through worse things forideals to which this mental giant of the law enforcement professionhad no reply.

Almost a year later, I talked to his lieutenant, and he told methat I could have asked to leave and been released at any time. Wealso got into a long inconclusive discussion about police,government, race relations and my only gain from the conversation isrealizing that people will make the same predictable arguments whendefending their establishment. The lieutenant was of Puerto Ricandescent, and he asked me if things were done discriminating againstcertain groups, wouldn’t people like him do something about it beingon the inside?

I don’t know if he understood me, but I told him that everyconquest has its collaborators.

My complaint came down to my word against theirs. There was nobodyto say that I was patted down without my consent. I asked if thereever was a suspect matching my description, and I was told it washard to find the records. Also, I still had to pay court fees on mycitation for not having the correct address on my ID, andinterestingly enough, I would later get told by an internal affairsofficer that my citation and another citation I received about a yearlater in a similar incident had nothing to do with my wanting toobserve.

I took my complaint to the chair of the citizen’s review board.The result? I have some very personal reasons to believe we need anindependent review board.

–Victor Marrero is a graduate student in social science/chicanostudies. Send e-mail to daletter2000@hotmail.com.

–This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec.