Some Latinos Claim Lake Elsinore Police Use Racial Profiling

Dozens and dozens of people -- most of them Latino -- walked the streets of downtown Lake Elsinore Friday evening holding signs denouncing what they say is racial profiling by police.

The community march follows reports that roads around Railroad Canyon Elementary School in Lake Elsinore have been targeted by a deputy on a motorcycle who goes after Latino parents dropping off and picking up their kids at the campus.

Julia Jimenes, 39, was one of those present Friday evening. The Lake Elsinore resident said she and her boyfriend have been repeatedly targeted by police who pull them over for no reason.

“He’s Hispanic, he has tattoos. Every time they pull us over, even when I'm driving, they run his information,” she said of her boyfriend. “They don’t find anything, but they look for reasons to get him.”

Carrying copies of his temporary license and an insurance card, Wildomar resident Pablo Fuentes Orozco, 37, claimed he was wrongly cited and his truck impounded under false pretenses by Lake Elsinore police. He said it cost him $600 to get his vehicle back, despite proving the traffic violation was trumped up.

The small, slender man with weathered hands said he drives through Lake Elsinore daily to get to work. His English is broken and he’s poor.

“Many can’t afford to fight, and many can’t defend themselves,” Jimenes said of the man and others like him. “They don’t know what to do.

“It feels like [police] are targeting,” Jimenes said.

Another woman, who did not give her name, said Railroad Canyon Elementary School parents are also being targeted by a deputy on a motorcycle. Tickets are being handed out and vehicles are being impounded, which according to the woman is scaring the school children and establishing a bad perception of police in the community.

Jim Adams, a lieutenant based at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station, rejected the notion that his deputies are profiling.

According to the latest census figures, those who identify as “Hispanic or Latino" (of any race) number 25,073 or 48.4 percent of Lake Elsinore’s total population. Seventy-six percent of the Railroad Canyon Elementary student body is Latino or Hispanic, according to the school’s 2011-12 Student Accountability Report Card (the most recent available).

There are areas of the city, like Tuscany Hills, where the Latino population is lower than the downtown area.

“White parents dropping off or picking up kids from Tuscany Hills are complaining we’re targeting them too,” Adams said.

According to the 2011-12 Student Accountability Report Card for Tuscany Hills Elementary, just 22 percent of the student body is Latino or Hispanic, compared to 61 percent who are white.

As for a particular officer targeting a specific school, Adams said there are three motorcycle traffic officers in Lake Elsinore who are on rotation throughout the city. They are constantly shifted around to varying locations, and the deputy who was recently on patrol at Railroad Canyon Elementary has been moved to a different school beat and there is a good chance he will be back, the lieutenant explained.

The goal of the traffic enforcement officers is to increase safety in the city, according to Adams. School bus service was cut in the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, so there has been an uptick in the number of parents dropping and picking up their kids at school.

Adams said his department is currently working with local school officials to help educate the community on traffic laws in an effort to make the roads safer while at the same time reducing the number of tickets handed out.

“We look forward to listening to and working with parents,” Adams said.

Adams also offered that for those who feel their vehicles may have been unfairly impounded, they can visit the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station at 333 W. Limited Avenue for a no-charge “tow hearing.” If during the hearing it’s determined a vehicle was improperly impounded, it will be released at no charge to the owner, he explained. However, disputes over traffic violations must be handled through the courts, he said.