NAACP Leader Criticizes Police

The NAACP asked San Jose police Monday to put video cameras in squad cars and increase sensitivity training for officers after the president of the group’s Silicon Valley chapter said he was treated rudely while being questioned.

Rick Callender said his branch of the civil rights organization has received more than 20 complaints about San Jose officers’ behavior in the last three months.

Callender was stopped April 24 as he and Rod Diridon Jr., a white Santa Clara city councilman, were walking to their cars after having dinner downtown. Police were looking for a black man who had stolen a wallet from a nearby apartment.

Callender said one white officer politely explained the situation. But he said two others--one white and one Callender believes was Latino--were “rude and unprofessional,” allegedly referring to another black man being questioned across the street as “your friend.” One officer snatched a pen out of the other black man’s hand, and police threatened to arrest Callender if he lingered to watch the man’s questioning, Callender said.