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Papers > Politics > racial profiling
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1. Racial Profiling
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racial profiling |
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INTRODUCTION American policing is facing a tremendous challenge—a widespread perception that the police are routinely guilty of bias in how they treat racial minorities. ... Racial and ethnic minorities constitute a substantial and growing segment of the U. ... We all know that racial profiling is unacceptable and is at variance with the standards and values inherent in ensuring fair and dignified police response to all. ... 2 Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), with funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, developed this report as a reference to help police leaders respond to the issues associated with racial profiling. ... Racial bias distorts attitudes toward civil authority and the police, and blights the quality of everyday life. ... According to recent national surveys, the majority of white, as well as black, Americans say that racial profiling is widespread in the United States today. ... ISSUE DEFINITION We have chosen to avoid the term “racial profiling” and, instead, refer to “racially biased policing.” We believe “racial profiling” has frequently been defined so restrictively that it does not fully capture the concerns of both police practitioners and citizens. For instance, racial profiling is frequently defined as law enforcement activities (e. ... Activities based on these sample pairs of factors would fall outside the most commonly used definition of racial profiling. 4 Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response Moreover, one could interpret the common definition of racial profiling to not include activities that are legally supportable in terms of reasonable suspicion or probable cause, but are nonetheless racially biased. ... In addition, using the word “profiling” to address the issue of bias not only creates confusion about an otherwise legitimate policing term, but also semantically limits the potential abuse to those instances in which an officer might use race as an indicator of criminal activity. ... The narrowest definitions of “racial profiling” refer to police activities in the context only of vehicle stops, ignoring the potential for police abuse of power in the many other activities in which they engage citizens. Most importantly, during the course of this project, it became clear that the term “racial profiling” hampered the national discussion of the problem. ... Project staff noted that most citizens were using the term “racial profiling” to discuss all manifestations of racial bias in policing. The police participants were likely to define “racial profiling” quite narrowly—as law enforcement activities (particularly vehicle stops) based solely on race. The Critical Issues in Racially Biased Policing 5 citizens claimed that “racial profiling,” as they defined it, was widespread. ... Societal division on racial grounds will leach the vigor from quality-of-life initiatives, regardless of how well-intended and well-funded. ... In the wake of current events related to “racial profiling,” police departments across the nation have adopted policies prohibiting “racial profiling.” These policies represent an important effort to convey to both citizens and police that “racial profiling” will not be tolerated. ... Recruitment and Hiring In terms of recruitment and selection, police agencies have the potential to reduce racial bias by hiring officers who can police 8 Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response in an unbiased way, and by hiring a workforce that reflects the community’s racial demographics. ... In developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community served, an agency conveys a sense of fairness and equity to the public; increases the probability that, as a whole, the agency will be able to understand the perspectives of its racial minorities and communicate effectively with them; and increases the likelihood that officers will come to better understand and respect various racial and cultural perspectives through their daily interactions with community members. ... Racial distinction is not a problem unique to policing; rather, it is a societal issue for which all government agencies must share responsibility. |
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Title: racial profiling
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