Black Lives Matter Sacramento

Public Statement Regarding Elk Grove Police Department and Officer Misty Johnson

This statement is in response to the traffic stop initiated by Officer Misty Johnson on September 13, 2020, and subsequent actions taken by Elk Grove Police Department.

• DISPLAY OF IMPROPER AND BIASED BEHAVIOR- Officer Johnson displayed improper and biased behavior when she initiated a traffic stop while wearing an unapproved face covering with a blue stripe often linked to white supremacist groups, a direct affront to her responsibility to uphold neutrality. The officer also demonstrated biased behavior when she called for backup before ever making contact with the driver. We demand an investigation into the motives of Officer Johnson, and an in depth explanation for her inability to maintain impartiality.

• RACIAL PROFILING- Officer Johnson’s biased and improper behavior continued when she insisted the driver must be on probation or parole. While Johnson stated such a thing was “standard procedure”, a traffic stop initiated by Johnson at the exact same stop sign where the driver was a white male, and where the driver video recorded the incident, demonstrated Johnson’s hypocrisy and failure to uphold neutrality. 

Comparing the two incidents, 

1.) Johnson engaged in friendly banter with the white male 

2.) without wearing a racist face covering 

3.) who dictated to her that she should “make [his] day better” by planning to intentionally miss court when he challenges the citation and

 4.) did not ask him if he was on probation or parole as standard procedure. 

The discrepancies exist because the driver on September 13, 2020 was a Black male. Johnson’s actions are paramount to racial profiling, and are equivalent to the same escalatory actions that result in the legalized murder of Black men by police nationwide who cannot separate their racial bias from their duty as a public servant.

• NEGLIGENT RELEASE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION- Elk Grove Police Department negligently released personal and identifying information from the September 13, 2020 interaction, thus violating their duty of care. As a result of the Department’s carelessness and insensitivity to the incident, the driver and family have received threats of violence as members of the public use this identifying information to harass the family. We are calling on the Department to fully redact the released information. The Department should also be held accountable for the damage already done by their intentional infliction of emotional distress in addition to redacting the released information.

• INTIMIDATION, RETALIATION AND HARASSMENT- Officer Johnson operated using intimidating tactics when she engaged in a stare down on the property line of the driver and his family. The Department engaged in intimidation and retaliation on September 16, 2020 when two marked SUV’s were identified on camera by a news source attempting to drive by the family home of the driver during an interview before spotting the camera crew and u-turning. Intimidation from a public servant is a dangerous affront to the civil liberties of all citizens. Department sanctioned intimidation is heinous and egregious, and is a tactic this Department routinely uses to force citizens who fight against its racist and abusive behavior to cease fighting or relocate. We demand heightened accountability and an end to retaliatory tactics as a form of policing by this department and its officers immediately.

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