An Oregon State Trooper is the target of a class-action lawsuit claiming the drug interdiction cop targeted minorities and underreported stops. OSP’s press releases and social media posts suggest that over the past three years Trooper Peterson, and his drug detection K-9 Jaxson, have made numerous drug busts along I-5 near Medford. They confiscated cash and large quantities of cocaine, heroin and meth.
The attorney for the victims said that trooper Peterson frequently stopped vehicles with out-of-state plates, where drivers looked like they were not from the area. The tort claim notice stated that he targeted minorities. The officer is currently on protected leave for an unrelated reason, OSP explained in a statement. The state agency did not state why.
The state legislature recently passed a bill that would prevent officers from pulling drivers over for a minor infraction. It requires officers to inform drivers they have the right to refuse a search during a traffic stop. These new laws are in response to the major problem in the country associated with law enforcement targeting of minorities.
Some cases connected to trooper Peterson have been dismissed due to unlawful searches that escalated minor traffic stops to a criminal investigation.
“Travis Peterson has been racial profiling on Interstate 5 and throughout the roads of Jackson County for years,” said Medford attorney Justin Rosas. A December 2021 ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court made it harder for police to search vehicles without a warrant.
Attorney Rosas plans to file a class-action lawsuit against Oregon State Police and Trooper Peterson on behalf of eight men who believe they were wrongly detained while driving through the Medford area which is located in Southern Oregon. “Part of this lawsuit is trying to look out for the over-policing of people who are just trying to move along — people of color predominately,” said Rosas.
An inter-office memo from the Jackson County District Attorney provided by Rosas indicates Peterson failed to document hundreds of traffic stops, as required by agency policy. From June 2020 through March 2021, Peterson failed to document 269 of the 750 traffic stops he performed, according to the DA’s memo. Trooper Peterson also failed to document 40 of 139 drug detection dog deployments between those same dates, which impacts the accuracy rating of a K-9.
On top of the missing stops, some evidence went missing altogether. According to the DA’s memo, Peterson seized an MDMA pill in December 2020 and .5 grams of methamphetamine, along with 1 ounce of marijuana in January 2021. “Peterson stated both were put in a plastic glove to store and be destroyed. Neither item was ever placed into evidence,” wrote Jackson County District Attorney Beth Heckert in the memo. “Peterson believes they were accidentally thrown away.”
“OSP takes allegations of racial discrimination and evidence mishandling seriously and has zero-tolerance for such behavior by its members,” the state agency said in a statement. “OSP investigates all allegations of misconduct and takes appropriate steps to address any behavior falling outside its policies, rules, procedures or law.”
