Lower Merion Police released a detailed response Wednesday to a woman's suggestion last month that shovelers she hired to work on her sidewalk were racially profiled.
Deborah Saldana of Penn Wynne, Pa., first shared her story Jan. 27 in the Facebook group Lower Merion Community Network.
“We hired two kids to shovel our sidewalk,” Saldana wrote. “These were 'African American' kids (one is actually Haitian), that have come to our house and shoveled before.”
As they were shoveling, Saldana said two police officers stopped them behind her home and ran background checks on them while they sat outside in the cold.
“It just seemed wrong to have them sitting there,” she said. “They didn’t have weapons. They just had shovels sitting to the side.”
Saldana said her father went to check to see what was going on and was told by the officers they were conducting an investigation. The shovelers then went back to work after 20 minutes, according to Saldana.
“The cops came to the door to tell my father that from now on, 'anyone' shoveling in Lower Merion, except if it’s your own property, needs a permit from the township, a $50 permit that has to be valid if they check,” Saldana wrote. “We paid the kids and they were okay, a little shaken up. I wonder if the same would have happened it if was white kids shoveling?”
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Saldana also told NBC10 she didn’t buy the officers’ explanation.
“I think it was profiling,” she said. “I hate to say it. I know we live in a really heated climate right now. I would like to think it was the permit. I think it was just a superficial excuse.”
Lower Merion Police Superintendent Michael McGrath first spoke to NBC10 back on Jan. 28, stating there were no reports of any teens being stopped and denied that the shovelers were racially profiled. He also said that based on their investigation, officers made two stops at Surrey Lane and Overbrook Parkway in Penn Wynne at 11 a.m. and 2:40 p.m. for canvassing and soliciting. The inidividuals who were stopped were all men, ages 40, 40, and 34 in the first case and 34 and 18 in the second case, according to McGrath.
McGrath released a more detailed response Wednesday night. In the statement, McGrath wrote that he was able to contact Saldana via phone on Jan. 29.
"It was learned that the resident had driven past the first stop and watched the second stop from her residence, and believed all the males were in their early teens," McGrath wrote. "During the course of our conversation, we informed her that the individuals she observed were in their 30’s and 40’s except for the one 18 year old, and that our department does not stop juveniles for shoveling snow, raking leaves or any other similar activity."
McGrath also said he informed Saldana that the canvassing and soliciting code was established several years ago in the town at the "request of residents who felt uncomfortable and did not want strangers knocking at their doors." McGrath also released data on canvassing and soliciting complaints in the town in 2013 and 2014.
In his report, McGrath stated the men who were stopped in the first incident on Surrey Lane were never handcuffed and allowed to standup on the sidewalk. McGrath also said the incident lasted for 20 minutes and ended with the men and the officers shaking hands. During the second incident on Overbrook Parkway the men were asked to sit after a "possible arrest warrant was discovered" for the 34-year-old man, according to McGrath.
"The two males remained seated for eight (8) minutes until it was determined that the subject did not fit the description of the wanted person," McGrath wrote.
McGrath said the men were then allowed to finish their work and a citation was not issued.
"Upon a thorough and comprehensive review of these incidents it is clear that the officer acted in a respectful, professional and appropriate manner during his interaction with these citizens," McGrath wrote. "The tactics utilized and the professional manner in which the officer conducted the investigations conformed to all policies and training of this department."
Saldana told NBC10 last month she didn't know for sure whether the shovelers she hired were teenagers, even though she believed they were. Despite this, she also didn't believe their age was the real issue.
"I've never seen any white kids stopped for their permit regardless of age," she said. "I still have to wonder. I don't jump to conclusions. I don't pass judgments very quickly. But it was just my gut instinct, because you never see anybody else stopped. So that's kind of the logical deduction."
READ MCGRATH'S FULL STATEMENT HERE
On February 5, 2015, a suburban Philadelphia police superintendent said officers acted appropriately when they stopped and questioned the people shoveling snow.
Township commissioner Jenny Brown said Saldana's post was "an irresponsible use of social media" and contained errors, including characterizing the shovelers as children.
