Hopewell’s Chief of Police is pushing back against claims of racism and profiling after a note went out earlier Wednesday about suspicious activity involving men described as Middle Easter or Hispanic.
At least three incidents have been reported at churches around the community over the past several days.
The reported incidents involve: an electric bike engine was left at a church pew; four men were seen driving slowly past a church and possibility taking pictures and a man sitting in a car for five minutes before taking off.
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Chief Donald Sedlacek’s letter was met with many comments on social media, with some claiming the department was being racist.
But, Chief Sedlacek says they were reporting a number of suspicious incidents, over a short time, in a small area and its important that they use “descriptive language” in order to identify anyone involved.
Sedlacek’s full note was sent to KDKA Radio. Read it below:
In order to keep the public informed of recent suspicious activity I, as Chief of the Hopewell Police Department, sent a letter out to our local churches and other public locations to make them aware of unusual incidents occurring at local churches in and around our area.
Due to the number of similar complaints within a short time frame and radius of occurrences it was vital to disseminate this information quickly.
The descriptive language in my letter was exactly what was reported to our department by witnesses and other departments in and around our area. Law enforcement requires that individuals engaged in unusual or suspicious behavior be identified through descriptive criteria including conduct, gender, age, race and ethnicity, vehicle description, clothing description, actions and behavior of actors as well as any other pertinent information. Any claims that using these criteria is racist or constitutes police profiling is not only wrong, but fails to recognize the simple fact that it is impossible to identify anyone other than by using these criteria.
We are working closely with our federal, state, county and local law enforcement partners to be vigilant and investigate all suspicious activity that is reported to us. We are asking that if anyone observes anything they feel is suspicious in nature to call 911 immediately.