Thurman Ward has seen it all before. There is a break point in law enforcement, he explains when deception overrides truth, and rationale goes out the window.

Retired correctional peace officer Thurman Ward, Jr. says he was detained and questioned April 2 by Moreno Valley police during a controversial barbershop sweep.

"I have to speak up in a meaningful way," said Mr. Ward who recently gave testimony to ACLU attorneys looking into the controversial incidents.

Saying, he "can not sit in silence and watch the misguided deeds of a few tarnish the good work of many", Mr. Ward argues that the decision to conduct the sweeps without a search warrant was a "serious strategic blunder" that was sold to the public as a crack down on individuals who violate business license and health and safety rules.

"What happened April 2 as I sat waiting to get a haircut was a blatant act of deception trumping truth. I was quite frankly naïve, stunned and literally dumbfounded. When you're innocent you don't immediately think - go on the defense."

Mr. Ward who until now has been reluctant to speak out, describes a surreal scene as he sat in the lobby of Hair Shack, his barbershop of five years.

"It was just me and Ron one of the other barbers, watching television and talking politics. I was waiting on my barber. All of a sudden 5 Moreno Valley cops wearing ‘full body armor', and  4 or 5 civilian officers stormed through the front door," recalls Mr. Ward.

"I was stunned like what the heck is this all about. A cop was standing beside me and another one was guarding the door. I was so dumbfounded that it did not occur to me until later that they were trying to keep me from leaving. I later learned that another officer had driven around to secure the back of the building," said Mr. Ward.

"I felt surrounded. I felt like a prisoner. I couldn't just get up and leave." Mr. Ward said for a half an hour he watched in awe as "mostly the officers" opened drawers and cabinets.

"They looked under cushions. They searched the place from front to back. They didn't seem preoccupied with the business license hanging on the wall. This was not an issue of dirty combs. It all came together says Mr. Ward when the officer guarding the door turned to him and asked:

" ‘Are you a parolee or on probation'? That's when it hit me - this was a fishing expedition, this was state inspectors providing cover for a police drug operation. It was deceptive, visceral and personally humiliating," he said. 

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be reduced to feeling like some kind of drug dealing thug," says Mr. Ward who says to avoid a confrontation he did not challenge the officer.

Even more telling says Mr. Ward was watching as the officers and state inspectors left the barbershop.

"I saw them gather in a knot, compare notes and walk across the parking lot to a hair salon (Hair Sculptures). Two of the officers and one inspector entered that shop. They spent less than 5 minutes and left.  It appeared to be a show."

Mr. Ward explains during his days as an Air Force recruiter in South Central Los Angeles he saw it all from small local drug busting operations to full scale multi-agency raids. In 2000 he retired from state Corrections headquarters in Sacramento after sworn counseling stints at the Tehachaphi and Chino prison facilities. 

"This was not the business license/health and safety inspections city officials claimed. I know a tainted police operation. This was tainted."      

Five of the six businesses inspected April 2 are Black owned. During that operation two people were arrested, a customer on suspicion of carrying a concealed handgun and a barber on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of 80 grams of marijuana.  

On April 15 authorities conducted a second sweep of 10 barber/beauty shops along Sunnymead Boulevard. Combined, the operations resulted in more than 180 violations totaling thousands of dollars in fines. Several barbers including Hair Shack owner Kevon Gordon have filed federal and state complaints seeking redress.

Gordon was among 50 Black barbers and hairstylists who met in late April to protest the sweeps.  Many of them believe the April 15 operation was a cover for the April 2 sweeps which they claim exposed a pattern of hostile police tactics against Black owned establishments in the city. Several customers targeted in the sweeps have come forward with similar allegations.

City officials including Police Chief Rick Hall, Mayor Bill Batley and some members of the city council have disputed the barber's claims saying police accompanied state inspectors and city code compliance officers for security reasons.

Mayor Batley, the city's only Black councilman issued a statement a day after the April 15 sweep saying, "The city regularly inspects all types of businesses from street vendors to small mom and pop shops to major businesses," he wrote. "The goal is to ensure that all businesses in Moreno Valley are operating lawfully and complying with public health and safety codes." Phone calls and e-mail requests for comment to the  Riverside County Sheriff's Department which contracts law enforcement to Moreno Valley were not returned.      

Someone authorized those operations," says Mr. Ward.  "That person or persons should be held accountable."

Last month Kristy Underwood, Executive Director of the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology said she was not told Moreno Valley police were looking for drug activity when they asked state regulators to accompany them during the April 2 and 15 sweeps.

"The very first question my supervising inspector asked was, ‘is there criminal activity involved'? They said ‘no'. I would have turned down their request had I known otherwise," said Underwood.

"The barbers, their customers and the public deserve to know the truth. It is one thing to make a mistake,  but to make a conscious decision that jeopardizes people's livelihoods while stepping on their constitutional right against illegal searches is just plain wrong. Where was the probable cause?" said Mr. Ward

"I hope the good people at Moreno Valley City Hall will rethink this. I hope they will do the right thing and come clean."