Observer Online | Viewpoints

Posted May 18, 2007

What's in a Name?

There was a small item in the Herndon police report this week that disturbed me, not because of the crime but because of the way the police department handled it. It seems an officer arrested a man with no identification who was, apparently, driving. The man was arrested on a charge of driving without a license, and in the police report it listed the man as being of unknown age and address.

In most cases, the police report the names of people charged in crimes. The Observer, it should be noted, has traditionally removed the names from the report it publishes because we don't regularly cover the courthouse and therefore have no opportunity to list whether people are eventually found guilty or cleared of the charges. If The Observer publishes the name of someone charged in a crime, it means we consider the crime important enough to attend the hearings and legal proceedings and eventually report on the result.

In the instance of this unidentified man, the police department listed the name of the man charged as "Juan Doe." I suppose we are to infer from that identification that this person is Hispanic, and that information is supposed to be of some use to us.

Hispanics can be of any race, and may or may not speak Spanish or any other language on this planet, but the officer in this case seems to have pre-judged and pidgeon-holed this man based on what? His dress? His language? His skin color?

What name should we give to a black man who has no identification? An African-sounding name? What about an Asian man? A Chinese-sounding name?

The Herndon Police Department is beginning federal training this week to enforce immigration law. That training is to include sensitivity lessons, which could not come soon enough.