Human Rights Group Issues White Paper on Norristown Police-Latino Community Relations

According to Philly.com, Norristown residents met with Councilwoman Linda Christian, Norristown Municipal Administrator David Forrest and representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice, NAACP, and Pennsylvania ACLU on Wednesday evening to hear a presentation from Juntos, a Philadelphia-base Latino human-rights group. Representatives from the Norristown Police Department were reportedly invited, but it was decided Forrest would represent the department in the matter.

Juntos presented an 11-page white paper outlining instances of alleged harassment, racial profiling and unjust detention of Latinos by the Norristown Police and even instances of "local police behaving as ICE officials at checkpoints." The report consisted of 8 "testimonies" from victims of alleged police abuse.

"Anti-immigrant sentiments have unleashed a wave of hate on our communities, and Norristown is no exception," Norristown Community Organizer Carmen Guerrero told residents, according to Philly.com.

Guerrero reportedly contacted Juntos about the issue and prompted the report.

Forrest reportedly assured residents that the municipality took such allegations seriously and the incidents outlined in the report would be investigated further.

"If there is something that we are doing wrong, we are going to make corrections," Forrest reportedly told attendees. "We are going to discipline our officers."

Norristown Patch has requested a copy of the white paper and will continue to update the story as more information information becomes available.

Read more about the meeting and the alleged incidents here.