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Politics & Nation
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SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010
Census takers didn’t count on the anger Bureau has tallied 379
incidents involving assaults or threats
by Carol Morello
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nation’s census takers. Since they began making fol- low-up house calls in early May, census takers have encountered vitriol, menace and flashes of vio- lence. They have been shot at with pellet guns and hit by base- ball bats. They have been con- fronted with pickaxes, crossbows and hammers. They’ve had lawn mowers pushed menacingly toward them and patio tables thrown their way. They have been nibbled by ducks, bitten by pit bulls and chased by packs of snarling dogs. Some days, being cursed at seems part of the job description. So far, the Census Bureau has tallied 379 incidents involving as- saults or threats on the nation’s 635,000 census workers, more than double the 181 recorded dur- ing the 2000 census. Weapons were used or threatened in a third of the cases. Now, with just three weeks to
go in the door-knocking phase of the count, the number of census takers has dwindled, and the re- maining households are the toughest.
While most homeowners have 181
Assaults or threats on the nation’s 635,000 census workers:
379
Weapons were used or threatened in a third of the 2010 incidents, including:
● 12 incidents of shot(s) fired at census takers.
● 123 incidents of a weapon being used or threatened, from a crossbow to baseball bats to the ostentatious showing of a holstered gun.
2000 2010
● 83 incidents of a census worker being shoved or punched.
SOURCE: Census Bureau THE WASHINGTON POST
“I was stunned, I really was, that America is so mad at the government. . . . It’s not worth my life.”
— Sherri Chesney, a census taker
received census takers graciously, some say they have been sur- prised at the degree of anger ex- hibited by Americans who con- sider them the embodiment of in- trusive government.
“I came across loads of hostil-
ity,” said Douglas McDonald, who summoned police in Deltona, Fla., after a tug-of-war with an irate homeowner over a census form. The homeowner threw his ripped half in the toilet. McDonald, 70, a District native
who retired from the Labor De- partment after 30 years as an in- vestigator, said he wasn’t pre- pared for the level of anti-govern- ment fervor he encountered. “There’s so much anger and
bitterness, with people losing their homes and their jobs,” said McDonald, who eventually quit. “They’re not too fond of the gov- ernment. They don’t want to talk to you.”
Sherri Chesney, 46, said she
was cursed and spat at during fol- low-up visits in Houston. One day, she encountered a woman working in her garden. Chesney showed her census badge, she said, prompting the woman to launch into a tirade: “I don’t need the blankety-blank government snooping in my business.” Then she threw a metal patio table at Chesney, who escaped injury by ducking.
“I was stunned, I really was,
that America is so mad at the gov- ernment,” said Chesney, who no longer works for the census. “Peo- ple don’t know what it’s like out there. It’s scary and dangerous, and it’s not worth my life.” Census officials say they do not consider anti-government senti- ment more widespread than usu-
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al this year. But Fernando Arm- strong, the Philadelphia regional census director responsible for Maryland and the District, said it seems to be more vociferous. “It’s the degree of passion they
have,” he said. “When they don’t want to participate, they really don’t want to participate.” In the Washington area, the
threats made to census takers have been infrequent, and no one has been harmed. Some of the attacks elsewhere represent random violence, such as a robbery at knifepoint in Richmond, Va., and a carjacking in Connecticut. In some situa- tions, the job turned unexpect- edly dangerous, as for the Balti- more crew leader who was fatally shot seven times while sitting in his car and the Wisconsin census taker who knocked on the door of a man who tried to drag her into his apartment. Other workers were beset by mean-tempered animals. Wendy Soto, who was knocking on doors in California, still can’t move two fingers after being attacked by a pit bull that pushed open a secu- rity door.
Among the more troubling were incidents that arose from residents’ seething resentment that anyone from the government would seek their personal infor- mation.
Some people pointedly men- tioned President Obama. While conducting follow-ups in an upscale Seattle neighbor- hood, Grover Ellis said he came across a woman who considered him an agent of Obama, not the U.S. government. “The idea of the census just en-
raged her,” said Ellis, 64, stressing that the overwhelming majority of people he met were welcoming and responsive. “The way she saw the census, she was required to help Obama. And she wasn’t go- ing to do anything to help out Obama.” Police have been dispatched af- ter confrontations between cen- sus takers and property owners who posted No Trespassing signs. As federal government employ- ees, the census takers are not breaking the law by disregarding the signs. But try telling that to a home- owner with a crossbow. In a rural part of California’s
Nevada County northeast of Sac- ramento, two census workers told authorities that a man ordered them off his land. He mentioned his submachine gun, then fol- lowed them down the drive with a crossbow in hand. No charges were brought against the resi- dent, the sheriff ’s department said.
A homeowner in Marion, Ohio, called police, saying he had just used his baseball bat against a stranger on his property. The per- ceived interloper was a census taker who told police the resident flew off the handle as soon as he mentioned the word census. The census taker was struck in the forearm, warding off blows from the aluminum bat. The resident was charged with felonious as- sault.
Dallas regional director Gabri- el Sanchez said occasional en- counters with dogs and protec- tive property owners are par for the course in any census. “It’s not that people are waiting to gun down a government work- er or waiting to assault a census worker,” he said. “Some people have a strong need for privacy and being left alone. I’m sure they would treat the FedEx man the same way.”
Soto, the pit bull victim, says census takers should be permit- ted to carry weapons, such as pepper spray, to ward off harm. “If I’d had pepper spray in my
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pocket, I probably would have had a good chance of not losing my hand,” said Soto, 38, who was earning $15 an hour and saving for a vacation with her children and a used car. The dog bit Soto in the stom- ach, leg and hand. The census is paying for her doctor’s bills, med- ication and replacement cloth- ing. She doesn’t know when she will be physically able to return to her regular job as a special- education teacher’s aide. Steven Jost, a spokesman for the Census Bureau, said it is un- likely that the policy prohibiting census workers from carrying weapons will be rescinded. After the 2010 census is completed, of- ficials will examine all incidents to determine whether changes are needed to reduce risks, for both workers and the public. The number of verified incidents might go down after analysis. Chesney, for one, won’t be back for another census unless she’s of- fered an office position. “I want to help my country,” she said. “I want us to have fund- ing for schools, and all the things that are involved with the census. But I’m not putting my life at risk.”
morelloc@washpost.com
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