Alumni members of Kappa Alpha Psi, the national historically Black fraternity, went to Buchtel Community Learning Center on Thursday in an attempt to teach roughly 100 juniors and seniors how to make it through traffic stops unscathed.
“Sometimes [a traffic stop] is unconstitutional, sometimes their rights are being violated, but ultimately whatever is happening in that moment — for the sake of their parents, their community and themselves — we want to make sure that they live,” said Houston-based attorney Dominique Calhoun, a Kappa Alpha Psi member who leads the fraternity’s Learn 2 Live program. “We give them information, we try to make sure that they understand what the law is.”
Police officers in the United States pull over more than 20 million drivers every year – more than 50,000 every day – and those drivers are disproportionately Black and young. Officers also disproportionately search and kill Black drivers during those traffic stops.
Calhoun told Signal Akron that when the fraternity holds major regional gatherings, its members get together for community service events. The East Central Province of the fraternity – representing most of Ohio, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania – is gathering at a hotel in Cuyahoga Falls through the weekend.
Unfortunate outcomes come from unprepared individuals
“I think this is much needed,” said Akron-based member Kevin J. Smith, a Buchtel graduate. “Obviously we have a number of challenging scenarios between the police and people of color.”
With a cohort from the Akron Police Department, including Deputy Chief Michael Miller, and Akron Municipal Court Judge David Hamilton, Calhoun and his “brothers,” dressed in the fraternity’s signature crimson blazers, led the workshop at the Buchtel auditorium.
“A lot of unfortunate outcomes come from unprepared individuals,” Marcus D. Bailey, a regional leader of the fraternity based in southwest Ohio, told the students. He urged them not to take advice “from uninformed friends.”
Calhoun emphasized the concept of probable cause, having students repeatedly say in unison that “probable cause is the reasonable belief that a crime has or will be committed.”
Five students sat in chairs on stage to role-play a traffic stop, first as if they were speeding and headed to a mall on an early afternoon and next as if they ran a red light on the way to a Saturday night party with “contraband” police spotted on the ground. Officers demonstrated how they would take each person in the car out for questioning about it.
“When nobody claims ownership of the contraband, they’re all going to get questioned,” Calhoun told the students, explaining that if officers see something illegal “in plain sight,” they can search the car without a warrant. “When you have friends and you don’t know what they’re doing, all of y’all are going to jail.”
Calhoun told the students that if they feel their rights are being violated by police officers, that they should note the officer’s name and badge number and only address it after the encounter is over.
Treated badly? File a complaint
“At the end of the day, we don’t want you to have this fight on the side of the road,” he said, telling students they should file complaints with the police department if they have been treated badly. “If you feel your rights have been violated, the most important thing you can do is make sure people know about the officer. … Bad cops stay on the force because they aren’t reported. Tell your parents and report the police.”
Miller told students it’s important to keep their hands where officers can see them and to obey orders. “Sudden movements raise an officer’s suspicion about what your intentions may be,” he said.
Akron Police Officer Aaron Brown said that “routine traffic stops can go sideways pretty quick” and drivers keeping their hands on the steering wheel can mitigate that. “Any time there’s a lot of reaching around, reaching back, it heightens our awareness.”
A driver’s first words are important to setting the tone of a traffic stop, Officer Karlton Starks told students. Asking “Why you pull me over?” in an angry tone “is a bad start… don’t call us ‘dog,’ don’t call us ‘man.” APD veteran officer Gary Ivey told students that the drivers should turn their music off during a stop.
Akron Public Schools’ Superintendent Michael Robinson attended the event. Robinson, himself a Kappa Alpha Psi member, said he was happy with the presentation and wished it could be shared in other schools.
“I appreciate [the APD] being here with our kids, collaborating and letting them see that police are not bad — it’s important for our children to understand and build those positive relationships with our police department,” he said after the event.
“The more knowledge that the kids have and see the police in a positive way, I think it brings down the anxiety for students. I thought the program was exceptional, and I do believe that the children were very attentive and were asking questions that were really important for once they leave the school building and enter the real world.”
