"In my opinion I handled them professionallyand with courtesy," he said. "I take personalaffront that I was accused of racial harassment ofanybody."

Pierce, who has been in the department for 22years, said he has never seen his colleagues actin a discriminatory manner.

"I can't say that every Harvard police officeris not prejudiced," Pierce said. "But no officerhas ever treated a minority member unfairly."

Pierce said 70 percent of Black students hestops say "you're constantly picking on us becausewe're Black." He added that even people who areeventually convicted say this.

But Dye said many of his Black friends havebeen stopped for no reason than their skin color."I don't think it's to the point that the studentscan't trust the police but there is insecurity,"Dye said.

Luis R. Rodriguez '94 and Raymond Joseph '94also said they were stopped without cause bypolice, on April 12.

"We were rapping in the Yard, just having fun,"Rodriguez said. "People walked by us and weresmiling."

The students walked past Harvard Hall and werestopped by an officer in an unmarked car drivingbehind them, police and students said. Two otherpolice cars, with lights flashing, arrived at thescene and blocked off Johnston Gate, according toboth police an students.

Sgt. Kathleen M. Stanford said police stoppedthe students and asked to see their IDs becausethey seemed to be yelling loudly at students inHollis Hall.

"It was not the case that they were surroundedbecause they were Black," said Stanford, who wasin one of the patrol cars on the scene. "Westopped them because they were disturbing thepeace."

But Joseph said they were not yelling atstudents in Hollis Hall.

"[Police] said we were threatening people inthe window," Joseph said. "We were not speakingthat loud. The person in Hollis made no reply. Ican't see how they thought we were threateningthem.":

In addition, Joseph said police questioned themin a hostile and offensive manner.

"They cursed at us. Words like 'fuck' werestated, and I don't think that's proper policelanguage," Joseph said.

Stanford said there were no violations ofpolice procedure during the field interview.