In a letter dated July 16, 2012, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado demanded that Arapahoe County Sheriff J. Grayson Robinson rescind a recent Sheriff’s Office alert titled “Gypsy Scams” that could result in the racial profiling of persons described by the Sheriff’s Office as “Gypsies.”

The Sheriff’s Office bulletin describes a “Gypsy” as a “medium to dark complexioned Caucasian” with “dark hair and dark eyes” who “are often mistaken as Hispanic.” In the document, the Sheriff’s Office warns that “Gypsies” target the elderly and commit major crimes like home repair frauds and burglaries.

In the ACLU letter, Staff Attorney Sara Rich noted that the Sheriff’s physical description of “Gypsies” covered a wide swatch of the population, and the Sheriff’s warning that this group commits major crimes “can only serve to heighten any preexisting biases that community members may already have against ethnic groups that fit this general description, including Latinos.”

The letter criticizes the Sheriff for encouraging the community to regard persons as suspicious on the basis of physical appearance and thereby “subjecting countless innocent individuals to the risk of potential discrimination and harassment.”

“The investigation of crime should focus on behavior, not complexion,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. “To avoid racial profiling, law enforcement must discard ethnic stereotypes and focus on specific evidence about specific individuals. When communicating with the public, law enforcement must be especially careful to reject profiling and ethnic stereotyping.”

The ACLU’s letter noted that similar police bulletins targeting persons described as “Gypsies” prompted litigation charging a New Jersey police department with illegal racial profiling. In that case, the court said it was “disturbed” by police department alerts which sweepingly referred to “Gypsies” as “transient criminal families and individuals.”

The ACLU demanded that the “Gypsy Scam” bulletin be immediately rescinded. Attorneys for the organization also asked that the Sheriff issue a public statement that: 1) retracts previous comments about so-called “Gypsy scams” and 2) condemns discrimination against any person based on race, ethnicity or physical appearance.

Invoking the Colorado open records laws, the ACLU also demanded that the Sheriff release copies of its records related to “Gypsies” and “Gypsy scams” in Arapahoe County.

Arapahoe County includes 13 incorporated cities and towns, including Aurora, Centennial and Littleton. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the county has a population that exceeds 572,000 people. In the 2010 Census, nearly 20 percent of households responding self-identified as Hispanic or non-White.

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The ACLU of Colorado announced today that it has settled a lawsuit against Denver that sought the policy and procedure manual that governs the processing and treatment of detainees at Denver’s downtown city jail, known as the Pre-Arraignment Detention Facility, or PADF. As part of the settlement, Denver agreed to disclose all portions of the manual designated by the ACLU, and to pay $5,000 of the ACLU of Colorado’s attorney fees and costs. The PADF is Denver’s intake center, where arrestees are first taken to be booked, fingerprinted, given the opportunity to post bond, and housed until they are released or eventually transferred to Denver’s larger county jail.

According to the lawsuit, despite repeated requests from the ACLU, Denver refused to disclose sections of the manual claiming that disclosure would be “contrary to the public interest.” After a final request for voluntary disclosure was again refused by Denver, the ACLU filed suit on May 19, 2008, seeking disclosure of the manual under the Colorado open records laws. Just prior to the first court hearing in the case that was scheduled for June 19, 2008, Denver agreed to turn over all manual sections designated by the ACLU on or before June 25, 2008, subject to redaction. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the ACLU can challenge in court any redactions it believes are unjustified.

“We are certainly pleased that the City has agreed to release the records,” said John Culver, an ACLU Cooperating Attorney who is lead counsel in the case. “Disclosure of the manual is firmly within the public interest, and the City’s policies at the jail should be transparent and open to any member of the public who wants to view them.”

Disclosure of the manual was necessary in part, the ACLU argued in the lawsuit, because of the possibility of mass arrests in connection with protests at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver. According to papers filed in court, last summer the ACLU asked Denver police to handle minor violations with a summons or a notice to appear in court, a practice known as “cite and release.” Denver Police Department Deputy Chief Battista reportedly responded that under Denver’s current policy, police must make full custodial arrests—requiring detention in the PADF—for even minor violations connected with protests.

The ACLU argued in the lawsuit that the public had a right to know whether Denver’s policies and procedures at the PADF were adequate to handle the mass influx of arrestees that could result as a consequence of such a policy during the DNC, especially after the events surrounding the Columbus Day protests in October of 2007 when just eighty arrests overwhelmed the PADF and resulted in delays of up to 12 hours before arrestees who had already posted bond were released. At the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, police made over 1800 arrests causing serious problems with access to medical care, food, attorneys, and sanitary facilities.

“Denver has certainly done the right thing by finally releasing these policies,” stated ACLU of Colorado Staff Attorney Taylor Pendergrass, “We are disappointed that it took a lawsuit and Denver’s expenditure of $5,000 of Denver taxpayers’ money, however, to convince Denver to release documents that we believe clearly should have been disclosed in the first place.”
Under the terms of the settlement, Denver does not admit any liability or fault for refusing to disclose the portions of the manual sought by the ACLU.

The settlement of this case is unconnected to a separate lawsuit between the ACLU and Denver where the ACLU is seeking disclosure, under the Colorado open records laws, of records regarding how Denver is spending public moneys on less-lethal weaponry and other equipment prior to the DNC. A hearing in that case has been scheduled for June 24, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. in Denver District Court.

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Christina Ann FourHorn

Christina Ann FourHorn is 34 years old and lives in Sterling, Colorado with her husband and daughter. In addition to being a full-time wife and mom, Christina also works full time at night taking care of disabled adults.

On March 12, 2007, Christina was in the shower when officers from the Sterling Police Department surrounded her home and then arrested her in front of her neighbors.

It was the first time in her life that Christina had ever been arrested. The Sterling officers were acting on a warrant obtained by Denver Police Department Detective Mark Dalvit in March, 2006. Dalvit investigated an assault and robbery in Denver. The suspect was the victim’s girlfriend, whom the victim and witnesses identified as Christin Fourhorn, 160 pounds, born April, 1980, tattooed, and who was reportedly returning to her home in Oklahoma. Dalvit ran the name through the Colorado driver’s license database and found the ACLU’s innocent client. Although the computer showed she was 90 pounds heavier and seven years older than the suspect, Dalvit obtained a warrant for Christina’s arrest, on the basis of an affidavit falsely stating that she was the person the witnesses identified. A Denver police department spokesperson later defended Dalvit’s methodology as one that “followed our investigative procedures.” Christina spent five terrifying days in jail and nearly lost her job as a result of the erroneously-obtained warrant.

Christina spent 5 days in jail, during which time a Denver detective accused Christina of cheating on her husband with the alleged victim and lying to avoid being caught, and Denver officials refused offers by Christina’s husband to provide documentation proving they had arrested the wrong person. Christina was ultimately released on bail. A few weeks later, when she drove from Sterling to Denver for her next court date, she found out for the first time that Denver had already dismissed the case against her —no one had bothered, however, to tell that to Christina or her lawyer.

Christina’s arrest was published in the local small-town newspapers, and she nearly lost her job because the rules prevented her from return to work until the charge was resolved. After the arrest, Christina accessed a commercial records-search website and was able, in matter of minutes, to locate a Christin Blue Fourhorn, born in April 1980, and living in Oklahoma.

Jose Ernesto Ibarra

Jose Ernesto Ibarra, born in Texas, is 19 years old and lives with his wife, two sons, and mother-in-law in Denver, Colorado, where he works full-time in construction.

On July 2, 2007, Jose was arrested and imprisoned by Denver Sheriff Department deputies. Denver employees had erroneously determined that Jose was the same person as a criminal suspect named Jose Cayetano Ibarra who had several outstanding warrants for his arrest, despite the fact that Jose Cayetano Ibarra had a different birthdate than Jose, a different middle name, and looked nothing like Jose.

Jose spent the next 26 days in jail, during which Denver officers ignored his pleas that he was the wrong person. Denver also ignored efforts by Jose’s mother-in-law, Carmen Mendoza, and his wife, Itzel Mendoza, to provide documentation that Jose was not the criminal suspect. A Denver County Court judge agreed that Jose’s fingerprints should be compared to the criminal suspect’s fingerprints—there is no evidence, however, that Denver ever made such a comparison.

By July 24, 2008, Itzel and Jose believed that the courts had finally resolved the mistake made by Denver officers and had dismissed Jose from the warrants for Jose Cayetano Ibarra. Believing that her husband was finally going to be released, Itzel went to pick her husband up—only to be told that Denver would continue to imprison her husband based upon an additional warrant for Jose Cayetano Ibarra for a traffic violation in Adams County. When Itzel explained that the courts had finally cleared up this mistake that had already kept her husband in jail for more than three weeks, the Denver officer responded only that Jose would be held in jail unless she drove to Adams County and paid a $274 traffic fine that Jose Cayetano Ibarra owed there. Rather than allow her husband to remain wrongfully imprisoned, Itzel went to Adams County, only to be informed that the fine had to be paid in Denver. She drove back to Denver and paid the fine, and Jose was finally released on July 27, 2008.

During his time in jail, Jose was unable to work and unable to provide for his son Jose Antonio and his wife Itzel, who was pregnant at the time of Jose’s arrest with their son Ernesto. Jose missed Jose Antonio’s first birthday, and also Jose Antonio’s first steps.

Muse Jama

Muse Jama, 27, is a legal permanent resident who left Somalia to come to the United States in 1994. Muse is a Denver resident and currently majors in biology at Metro State.

On September 21, 2007, Muse was home studying for an exam when Denver police officers knocked on his door and declared they had a warrant for his arrest. The officers asked for Muse’s identification, and Muse gave the officers his driver’s license, Social Security card and student identification card.

Unbeknownst to Muse at the time, the officers did not actually have a warrant for his arrest, but rather had an arrest warrant for a criminal suspect named Ahmed Alia, a person Muse has never known or met. As Muse would later discover, Alia has distinct facial scars, and the warrant for Alia was for an alleged auto theft in Denver in March of 2007—a date when Muse was with his family on spring break in San Diego, California.

The officers, who had a picture of Ahmed Alia with them at the time of the arrest, knew that Muse wasn’t Ahmed Alia—one of the officers said, “I don’t think this is the right guy. He doesn’t have any of the scars. Doesn’t look like the guy we’re looking for.” Nevertheless, the officers arrested Muse and took him to jail, telling him that if there was indeed a mistake, he would be back home “in two hours.” Muse didn’t return home for eight days.

During his time in jail, Muse was forced to answer to the name Ahmed Alia and was never brought before a judge. As a result of his time in jail, he had to drop two classes and struggled to keep up his grades.

When Muse finally appeared in court after being released on bail, the prosecutor acknowledged that there was no way to confuse Muse with the criminal suspect Ahmed Alia, stating, “Your honor, just for the record, the People have a mug shot of the correct defendant in the file. It is obviously not this individual.” The court dismissed Muse from the case.

Samuel Powell Moore

Samuel Powell Moore is a 66 year-old Denver resident who retired after nearly two decades of working for the City and County of Denver in the public hospital, as a sanitation worker and as a traffic engineer.

Denver police officers have arrested Sam four times under an Aurora warrant authorizing the arrest of William Douglas Pipkin, a man Sam has never known or met, and who died in 2004. In 2002, Pipkin allegedly attempted to steal about $450 worth of goods from an Aurora store. When he was caught, Pipkin presented a state identification card he had previously stolen from Sam. The identification card bore no middle name, so Pipkin invented the middle name Earl. An Aurora police officer gave Pipkin a ticket for shoplifting in the name of “Samuel Earl Moore” and noted that Pipkin had a large tattoo of his heart on his arm. When Pipkin did not appear in court, a “failure to appear” warrant issued for “Samuel Earl Moore.”

In 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2007, Denver police officers wrongfully arrested Sam under the warrant for Pipkin, despite the difference in the middle name and Sam’s lack of any tattoos. Each time, Sam was eventually transferred to Aurora Municipal Court, where he was promptly released by the judges who noted in the court file that Sam had no heart tattoo and wasn’t the criminal suspect. After the 2004 arrest, Sam obtained a copy of the court file containing these notations, which he thereafter always carried with him.

In addition, after the 2004 arrest, Aurora placed a warning in the Colorado state criminal database stating that Samuel Powell Moore had no tattoos and was not the same person as the criminal suspect Samuel Earl Moore. The computer database notation instructed officers to verify fingerprints, FBI numbers or state identification numbers before arresting anyone they believed to be Samuel Earl Moore.

In October of 2004, Pipkin died at the Ft. Lyons Correctional Facility.

The database notation did not prevent Sam’s fourth “mistaken identity” arrest in November 2007. Sam was a passenger in a car when Denver police officers conducted a traffic stop. After taking Sam’s identification, the officers said there was a warrant for Sam’s arrest. Despite the database notation and despite Sam’s offer to show the Aurora court docket sheet, he was arrested. He spent 8 days in Denver’s city jail before being transferred to Aurora, where the court promptly released him for the fourth time.

Dennis Michael Smith

Dennis Michael Smith is a 49 year-old public high school teacher who lives with his wife and two children in Denver, Colorado.

Dennis and a colleague went to visit a former student who was being detained at the Denver County Jail on January 19, 2008. Before the visit, Dennis had provided Denver officers his driver’s license number and other identifying information, as required by Denver’s visitation procedures.

When Dennis arrived at the jail and provided his driver’s license, deputies erroneously declared that Dennis was the same person as Dennis Allen Smith, someone with a different middle name, tattoos, a criminal history, and an active arrest warrant. After having been confused with this criminal suspect in the past, Dennis thought the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had straightened things out. He had obtained and kept with him a letter from the CBI, which stated authoritatively that he was not the same person as Dennis Allen Smith. Indeed, the letter explained that CBI had entered a notation to that effect in CCIC, the state’s computerized criminal information database. Dennis told the deputies that the CBI letter was just outside, in his car, but the deputies would not wait for Dennis’s friend to retrieve it. Nor did they check to see if Dennis had the tattoos that were part of the suspect’s description. (He doesn’t.) Dennis was handcuffed and transported to the City jail, where he spent the rest of the day before finally being released.

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