racial profiling (Photo : Reuters)
"Our policies were not violated," North Miami Beach Police Chief J. Scott Dennis told NBC Miami defending the controversial use of African American men's mug shots in target practice.
Dennis explained that "there is no discipline forthcoming from the individuals who were involved with this."
The news on the said racial profiling broke when Sgt. Valerie Deant from South Florida arrived at the North Miami Beach Police shooting range one Saturday morning in December 2014 in Medley.
As the Florida Army National Guard's 13th Army Band clarinet player, Deant was with her fellow soldiers were range for their annual weapons qualifications training at the shooting at the time.
Deant was surprised to see mug shots of African American men used at a shooting range for police training. Even more surprising for Deant was when she found out that her brother Woody Deant's mug shot was one of the photos used in the target practice. The said mug shot was taken 15 years ago when he was arrested for drag racing that killed two people.
After Dennis explained that the North Miami Beach Police use a range of photos of all races and the use of African American men was just a random sampling, Sgt. Deant said the explanation was not enough and her family has sought a legal action.
Maj. Kathy Katerman also defended the North Miami Beach Police saying that shooting a gallery of African American men does not reflect the police-community relations in the city, Miami Herald reported.
Katerman said that they do not "just shoot at black males" as they have "other targets, too."
