4. GALLUP POLL
(2000)
Q: Have you been stopped by the police
because of your race or ethnicity?
YES
White
Minority
6%
42%
5. GALLUP POLL
(2000)
Q: How widespread do you believe racism
by police against blacks is?
YES
White
Minority
56%
80%
“very or fairly common”
6. 3:00 a.m.
On patrol
High crime area
You observe B/M holding gun on W/M
What is going on here?
Scenario
7. 3:00 a.m.
On patrol
High crime area
You observe W/M holding gun on B/M
What is going on here?
Scenario
8. “There is nothing more painful for me, at this
stage in my life, than to walk down the street and
hear footsteps and start to think about robbery
and then look around and see it’s somebody
white and feel relieved. How humiliating!”
- Reverend Jesse Jackson: November 27th, 1993
9. Reality
1. Racial profiling is an important issue to a large
segment of our community.
2. The truth is somewhere between the perception and the
response of many in law enforcement.
3. No one can say racial profiling never happens.
4. How often it happens depends, to a large extent, on how
racial profiling is defined.
10. Therefore,
regardless of whether a department actually
engages in racial profiling,
it is imperative that its officers
understand the depth and effects
of that perception
and
follow applicable law & department policy.
11. Goals
To combat racial profiling and to promote
professional behavior in all police-citizen encounters,
thereby improving community relations .
To create commitment to, and compliance with,
department policy .
To decrease legal liability for the department and its
officers.
12. Defined
The unlawful, discriminatory practice
by police officers
of treating race, ethnicity or skin color
as an indication of possible criminal activity.
13. Two Types of Racial Profiling
Fourth Amendment
Police have no legal basis for the enforcement action.
(i.e., stop, frisk, search, arrest, citation, etc.)
Fourteenth Amendment
Police have legal basis for the enforcement action,
but minorities are the only, or most frequent, targets
of that enforcement action. (i.e., usually pretext stops)
14. Racial profiling threatens the integrity of the entire criminal justice
system… not only in the eyes of minorities, but of everyone.
Fewer people will trust the police enough to come forward with crime
information, whether they be victims or witnesses. Or, they may vote
not to convict the guilty while serving as jurors.
The cost of getting stopped by the police – from the minority
perspective: Distrust, Fear, Anger and Humiliation.
These costs are external, so they are easy to dismiss . . .
But they are absolutely critical to police/community relations.
Effects
15. Usually linked to 1980s war on drugs, courier profiles, etc.
1986:
“Operation Pipeline”… The DEA trained officers in 48 states in the
“art” of using race as a factor in drug courier profiles.
Perceptions on racial profiling virtually exploded after the
Supreme Court ruled on “pretext stops” in Whren v. United
States
History
16. Issue:
Is the temporary detention of a motorist (who the police have probable
cause to believe has committed a traffic violation) inconsistent with the 4th
Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable seizures unless a
reasonable officer would have been motivated to stop the car by a desire
to enforce the traffic laws?
Holding:
No. The constitutional reasonableness of a traffic stop does not depend
on the actual motivations of the individual officer involved.
“We of course agree . . . That the Constitution prohibits selective
enforcement of the law based on . . . race. But the constitutional basis for
[an] intentional . . . discriminatory application of the law is the Equal
Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
17. Pretextual traffic stops aggravate years of accumulated feelings of
injustice, resulting in deepening distrust and cynicism about police and the
criminal justice system.
Officer stops a vehicle or person for a minor violation (cracked
windshield, white light to rear, walking in wrong half of crosswalk, etc.),
often equipment, and while investigating and/or issuing a ticket, all the
officer asks about is drug or gang activity.
During this type of stop, the officer asks to search person(s) or vehicle.
What is the citizen's perception of the police action/purpose?
