Racial Profiling and Sheriff’s Department

* Re “Deputy Accused of Racial Profiling,” Jan. 24.

In almost 15 years of residency in Moorpark, I have been stopped several times by different deputies for no apparent reason. Sometimes I have been followed and, when the patrol car pulled beside my car, the officers stared at me with a dirty, suspicious look.

My wife and my sister also have been stopped. An occasional worker on our ranch also has encountered such racial profiling just because his look and his color are different from [the deputies’].

There are some deputies here who are not just guilty of racial profiling but are arrogant, abuse authority, threaten citizens and violate their constitutional rights. A recent incident in our home led my wife to file a complaint against two officers. I would not be surprised if the Sheriff’s Department would just file and ignore it.

Reporter Mark Jennings’ encounter with a certain deputy was a typical incident that should be investigated fully. The Sheriff’s Department should educate its officers regarding the rights of citizens, even if they are suspected of crimes, and treat them with respect and dignity until a court of law has proven them guilty.

SIMON B. BIEJO

Moorpark