The Division of Public Safety released yesterday the final report of its investigation of last month's alleged racial profiling incident, concluding that the officers involved acted properly and according to procedure and that no racial profiling occurred.
The report was issued in response to a March 21 incident in which a black male student was temporarily detained on Walnut Street following a verbal altercation inside Huntsman Hall between the student and two AlliedBarton security guards.
After the incident, the United Minorities Council issued a statement claiming that the detainment was another example of "Penn Police using excessive force and bias-based profiling."
In its report, however, DPS officials again stressed that officers reacted according to procedure for what was properly called in as a "fight-in-progress."
In the incident, a security supervisor called PennComm after the student allegedly became confrontational with the supervisor and another security guard.
The situation was determined a "fight-in-progress" and as many as eight police officers responded, temporarily handcuffing the student near 37th and Walnut streets before determining that no crime had occurred.
Vice President of Public Safety Maureen Rush said that the supervisor and PennComm appropriately judged the situation, and police were called in as a precaution.
"We base it on the worst-case scenario," she said. "It's better that people go in with a higher level of response than [underestimating] what the incident was."
The student in question originally took issue with the number of police officers who responded on the scene. He also alleged that police had pushed him up against the wall of the Graduate School of Education building in order to handcuff him.
But DPS' report said that "no force was used," and that the decision to handcuff the student was made by the officers based on the student's demeanor, as well as the incident's taking place in a high traffic area.
"We don't want to send a solo officer into what turns out to be a big fight in progress," Rush added. "How many police is the right number? It depends on the situation. We want to deescalate the situation so that we have the right amount of police officers."
Undergraduate Assembly Chairman and Wharton senior Brett Thalmann said he was satisfied with the statement released by DPS and the conclusion that race was not a motivating factor.
The report "is continuing the dialogue between all students including students in various minority communities with the Division of Public Safety," Thalmann said.
UMC chairwoman and College junior Efe Johnson declined to comment for this story.
According to the report, DPS officials used closed-circuit surveillance monitors, reviewed PennComm's tape of the supervisor's emergency call and conducted 13 interviews in its investigation.
