Dept. Of Justice, Suffolk County police settle on anti-Latino bias charges
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced that they have tentatively agreed to a settlement with the Suffolk County Police Department which calls for SCPD to implement new and enhanced policies and procedures to ensure nondiscrimination in police practices in Latino communities.
The agreement, which the Department of Justice has agreed to, requires approval of the Suffolk County Legislature before it will be formally executed by the parties.
The federal government began an investigation of SCPD in 2009 in the wake of the killing of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian national who was murdered by a group of teenagers in Patchogue, N.Y., as he was walking home on the evening of Nov. 8, 2008. The investigation focused on allgegations of discriminatory policing, including claims that SCPD discouraged Latino victims from filing complaints and that it failed to investigate crimes and hate-crime incidents involving Latinos.