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(EMAILWIRE.COM, August 31, 2010 ) LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - The NAACP is filing a formal complaint with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for the apparent targeting of parents of children at Kermit Booker Empowerment School for tickets for jaywalking on the first day of school. The NAACP is demanding that the tickets be dismissed.
On a day of great excitement for parents and children, the actions of Metro officers have tainted the memory of this day for many parents and children at Booker. Parents bringing their children to school witnessed patrol officers issuing jaywalking tickets to parents to parents who were accompanied by their young children.
There is no crossing guard at Booker. And while there is a cross-walk that runs parallel to Martin Luther King Boulevard, this cross-walk, according to parents, offers significantly less safety than crossing directly in front of the school where there is greater visibility on a less traveled street. The parents who were stopped were ticketed rather than given warnings.
The population served by Booker is predominantly minority and economically challenged. The added financial burden of having to pay such tickets should have been something that was considered. Booker school officials did not ask for or seek assistance from Metro in response to any perceived safety issue. The officers never sought assistance or advice from Booker school officials.
“It is shameful that on day that we should be supporting the parents who bring their children to school parents receive jaywalking tickets. It is our understanding that certain police officers have chosen to exercise their police powers in such a heartless, cruel and apparently selective manner” says Frank Hawkins, Jr., president of the local chapter of the NAACP. “This discriminatory issuance of jaywalking tickets must stop!” stated attorney Richard Boulware chairperson of the legal redress committee for the local NAACP.
The NAACP encourages any parents who have received such jaywalking tickets to contact the NAACP office at (702) 638-1300 or Jo Cato, Periwinkle Mass Media at 702 743-7087.
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