Built-up frustration and passion exploded during a two-hour meeting Friday of the Jefferson City Commission on Human Relations, with topics ranging from police profiling to public nuisance issues.
Commissioner Patsy Johnson said she has been stopped or followed by Jefferson City Police Department officers several times recently. She said the reasons for the stops have been minor, such as being slightly past the line at a stop light or for no reason.
She believes she was stopped because she is black, she added.
"You may not have the same experience, but I have experienced it and have seen what I seen," Johnson said. "I'm not saying everyone does it, but the statistics bear out. It's wrong. We just don't want to be harassed."
She said she has heard similar complaints from members of Jefferson City's black community and that these complaints align with a recent annual vehicle stops report from Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley earlier this summer.
In 2017, the Jefferson City Police Department made 15,652 traffic stops - with 10,804 (69 percent) involving white drivers, 4,545 (29 percent) black drivers and 101 (0.6 percent) Hispanic drivers, according to the report. Of the 982 arrests made from those stops, 525 (53.5 percent) were white drivers, 447 (45.5 percent) were black and five (0.5 percent) were Hispanic.
Jefferson City's population is 78 percent white, 17 percent black and 2.6 percent Hispanic, according to U.S. Census figures updated with 2018 estimates.
"It's not just one race of people being pulled over," Commissioner Raymond Lee said, adding he has worked as a taxi driver and has seen multiple types of people pulled over by police for various reasons. However, he said the commission should try to work on a solution to address racial complaints.
Johnson said she has spoken with the Police Department in the past about complaints she and community members have regarding police stops.
Lt. David Williams, spokesperson for the police department, said this was the first he has heard of these complaints.
"Until I actually am able to ask her some questions, I don't really know I have anything to say about her specific stops," he said Friday. "There's a lot of reasons she could be getting stopped or reasons for why she doesn't like us. There's a lot of people who don't feel like they should have gotten stopped, but that doesn't mean we're profiling them."
Commissioners suggested partnering with the police department to provide a diversity training work session to officers.
"We want to be able to work with our police and use the vehicle stop report to start the conversation," Johnson said.
Jefferson City Police Chief Roger Schroeder previously told the News Tribune that JCPD division commanders conduct an annual review of the vehicle stops report data. If they believe an officer is stopping vehicles at a racially disproportionate rate, the officer is counseled and the process is documented, he said.
"Our officers are trained in diversity. It's something we don't take lightly, so if you or someone else wants to come into the lobby and sit and talk about what they feel like we should be doing, I'd be happy to listen," Williams said. "I'm not guaranteeing that I'm going to take any of your suggestions and go off from the direction we're already going, but I'm more than happy to talk to someone."
At the same time commissioners discussed police stops, commissioner Kennette Goodman expressed her frustrations with public nuisance issues in her neighborhood, around the 800 block of Monroe Street. She said there have been issues of abandoned homes, bed bugs, trash and other nuisance violations.
The city's code enforcement frequents the 600-800 blocks of Monroe Street regularly, especially since there are several rental properties, Jefferson City Housing and Property Inspector Dave Helmick said. He noted some of the biggest issues in the area are illegal dumping, accumulation of trash, littering and unmaintained abandoned buildings.
For nuisances like illegal dumping and accumulation of trash, the city sends letters to the landlords, giving them 10 days to correct the issues. If those issues are not corrected during that time frame, Helmick said, the city can abate the nuisance and place a tax lien on the property.
Helmick previously has said the city has a 95-98 percent compliance rate.
After speaking with multiple city and county officials regarding these issues, Goodman said, she believed she was being ignored, adding she has public health and safety concerns for her children and neighbors.