The American Civil Liberties Union recently filed various lawsuits against the Chicago Police Department, contending that they have been routinely arresting minority individuals in a basic violation of discriminatory regulations.

Chicago resident Shani Davis, a member of the U.S. Olympic speedskating team at the 2001 Winter Olympics, filed a lawsuit claiming that various police officers have detained him on two different occasions on suspicion of gang activity. Once, he said, police searched inside his underwear for drug paraphernalia.

“I felt powerless just from the fact that he had a weapon,” Davis said, according to the Associated Press. “I felt threatened.”

Two other men, Damien and Quincy Joyner, are represented by the ACLU in the same lawsuit that alleged the police unlawfully stopped them on the street with immediate suspicion of gang activity.

ACLU Director of Communications, Ed Yohnka, said it’s the belief of the ACLU that the Chicago Police Department has the numbers to back up the claim that they have been disproportionately arresting more Hispanics and blacks than whites.

“We believe there is a pattern and practice taking place within the police department,” Yohnka said. “It’s a fairly straightforward violation of these men’s fourth amendment rights.”

Yohnka classified this lawsuit as an important issue because of its racial implications. He said it’s important that someone defer the police from considering minorities fair game for police harassment.

“If you can’t protect the fourth amendment right when walking on the streets, I don’t know when you can,” Yohnka said.

What Yohnka refers to is a policy that allows police to break up group activity on streets if they suspect gang activity of any sort. The ACLU, however, says the Chicago Police Department not only disperses these groups but also most times make significant arrests, about 80,000 in all Yohnka said, since the law was instituted a few years back.

Lt. Jim Kayes of the DeKalb Police Department said no situation such as the allegations in Chicago have been evident within DeKalb. He did contend that it might be because Chicago is far more populated and diverse than DeKalb.

Kayes said as a policy for the DeKalb police and anywhere else is that if you stop someone on the streets or inside a vehicle that it is because of a law violation, not because of scant suspicions.

Kayes suspected that the ACLU is basing this argument on the bolstered numbers that show a significant number of arrests by certain cops at specific times targeting specific people. He added if that is the case, the ACLU might have a case against the Chicago Police Department.

But Kayes had a difficult time piecing together how the Chicago Police Department could be racially profiling certain individuals because a good percentage of the police force is comprised of minorities.

University Police Lt. Matthew Kiederlen said it’s difficult to understand such cases being prevalent because like Chicago Police Department, the UP force is exceptionally diverse.

He said if the UP were approached with a similar lawsuit, he’d feel confidant with regulations in place and data to back them up that the UP never has arrested or targeted people based on race or status.

Yohnka said regardless of minority police officers and strict regulations, cases similar to the two the ACLU is representing still are cause for serious concern and immediate action regarding the police ordinance that allows them to sweep and rid the streets of gang activity.

“It’s our purpose to try to change this policy in training, oversight, and appropriate discipline of police officers so that this doesn’t happen again,” Yohnka said.