Biased enforcement is something every police department must confront, and the DeKalb Police Department has made its stance known.

“There is no reason it should happen,” DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen said. “Our officers have been trained and I have met with each of them to go over the aspects of the policy.”

According to the DeKalb Police Department biased enforcement policy, biased enforcement refers to a decision made by police officers to question people based on their race, gender, age, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation.

“It is basically profiling,” Feithen said.

Although biased enforcement is something the police department must address, it has not been a problem, Feithen said.

Feithen added there has not been a confirmed case of profiling at the police department. However, he added that some people just want to talk to him and clarify their situation if they felt they were singled out.

There are only two or three of these a year, he said.

“There is no doubt where we stand on it,” Feithen said. “But we do want to make sure we remain a professional department, but take the necessary enforcement procedures.”

The chief of police has attended several training sessions and conferences at the state and national levels. One such conference is the Northwestern University Traffic Safety Institute – a meeting of law enforcement officers from around the country, Feithen said.

He also attends the International Chief of Police Association and Illinois Chief of Police Association. From the experiences at the different meetings, Feithen issued the biased enforcement policy in March 2001.

The police department is not the only one that must deal with biased enforcement.

On a police department Web page, there is a complaint form for those who think they were discriminated against by not just the police department or the city, but by a local business – this is the Human Resource Commission complaint form, police Sgt. Jim McDougall said.

McDougall said he never has seen any of the reports, whether police or HRC, while he has been a shift commander at the police department.

“We still want to be pro-active and let people know the programs if they think they were discriminated against,” McDougall said.