Students gathered in the Quad yesterday as part of the “Suspect: Vague” demonstration to protest racial profiling.
Participants wore dark hoodies and held up signs with their physical descriptions. The event was put on by Baton Rouge Organizing after LSUPD sent out an emergency alert Jan. 30.
The alert was for an armed robbery in the Kirby Smith Hall parking lot and reported the suspect was a “black male wearing dark hoodie.” The vague description put everyone matching the profile in danger, said international studies junior and event organizer Majdal Ismail.
“We’re not against LSUPD sending out an alert in general,” Ismail said. “The problem is the way that they sent it out.”
Ismail said she understands the goal of keeping the community safe, but the messages should not compromise the safety of those with similar characteristics.
Racial profiling is a major issue on campus and in the nation, said history junior and event organizer Blair Elizabeth Brown.
“These types of incidences are harmful to a community like LSU,” Brown said. “We shouldn’t have to dictate what people are doing just based on their race.”
An alternative solution is to not include physical descriptions of suspects unless there is a distinctive characteristic, Brown said.
Other students had mixed feelings about the event. Business freshman Tyler Altenberger said the message was not vague at all.
“Of course they could have had more description, but if that’s all they saw, that’s all they saw,” Altenberger said. “It didn’t matter if it was a white male with a blue hoodie, that’s all the description they had.”
The decision to send an emergency alert is made on a case-by-case basis, said LSUPD spokesman Capt. Cory Lalonde. It depends on whether there is a possible ongoing threat associated with the crime.
LSUPD is required to send out emergency notifications through the Clery Act, Lalonde said. The goal is to ensure people can take necessary safety precautions.
The emergency alert system limits messages to 160 characters. Another issue is these incidents often leave victims traumatized and unable to provide accurate descriptions, Lalonde said.
“The purpose of the text messaging system going out is to let the public know, and part of that is we’re always having to balance the timeliness as well as accuracy of information,” Lalonde said. “But again, there’s only so much you can fit in that 160 characters.”
The emergency messages are followed up with information on the “Crime Alert” page of the LSUPD website. These posts typically have more detailed descriptions, Lalonde said.
LSUPD is also looking to improve their processes and procedures for these situations, Lalonde said. The department looks at every message sent out to see how it could be improved.
“Obviously, we’re constantly looking for new ways,” Lalonde said. “Just as everything we do in law enforcement, there’s always new ways, there’s always newer technologies, there’s always newer methods, and we’re always looking for newer ways to do things and improve.”
The character limit should not be an excuse, Brown said. She attributes the incident to laziness and a lack of forward thinking.
These vague descriptions are unacceptable, and people across the nation need to understand the consequences of profiling, she said.
“You see this type of thing happening at Harvard or at USC,” Brown said. “We need to be a place of distinction, where people can come and see LSU as a place where race relations are not as they are in the rest of the South.”