With an African-American as president, racial profiling seems to be at the forefront of news headlines. But what is going unnoticed and unpublished are the repercussions of this profiling on innocent bystanders. I am a blonde, 24-year-old female, Caucasian, who graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, work at Country Financial and revamps Cadillacs with my husband.

I only have a seat belt ticket on my record, but it was suspected that I was a drug dealer. I was followed from my residence, pulled over for a minor traffic infraction, searched by the male officer, had a K9 unit walked around my vehicle, and had my vehicle physically searched for drugs!

True, I live in a notoriously drug infested area, Rockingham Drive, but I was in a rush and it was cheap. I drive a vehicle that has a high monetary value, a 2001 Cadillac Deville. I make smart investments, I feel. Does that give the NPD the right to publicly embarrass me with a body search and waste 45 minutes on a traffic stop when they should be stopping daily drug transactions in my neighborhood?

Even worse, when I complained to the NPD, they covered up that I was profiled for having drugs by lying about what happened on my stop! They said that because of my husband's movements, and that he spoke from the passenger seat, it was suspected that we had drugs. Where does the line between keeping the public safe and harassment fall?

Cortney Fleming

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