Racial Profiling & Biased Policing

8/7/2019 Racial Profiling & Biased Policing

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Racial Profiling & Biased Policing

Racial Profiling Is Wrong and Will

Not Be Tolerated- Department of Justice


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Racial Profiling

Any police-initiated action that relies on the

race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than;

1. the behavior of an individual, or

2. on information that leads the police to a

particular individual who has been

identified as being, or having been,

engaged in criminal activity-


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Racial Profiling (cont.)


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Examples:

Driving while black (Police stop an African-

American for driving a late-model Mercedes)

Being in the wrong neighborhood (Police

question an Hispanic for being in a traditionally

White neighborhood)


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Racial profiling dates back to WWII

Racial Profiling was initially used by the DEA andCustoms Service to catch drug couriers

Used personal indicators that seemed to beassociated with law violations

Indicators included: speaking Spanish, travelingfrom a particular Central or South AmericanCountry, being 18-32 years old, purchasing ticketswith cash and having planned a short stay in theU.S.


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In 2003 the Department of Justice banned

racial profiling except in the cases of

identifying possible terrorists.

According to Amnesty International 26 states

have no law explicitly prohibiting racial

profiling. 46 states do not ban racial profiling

based on religion or religious appearance.

NY State has NO LAWS banning racial profiling.


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Racial Profiling is ineffective.

A survey by the Department of Justice in 1999 reveledthat while officers disproportionately focused on

African American and Latino drivers, they found drugsmore often when they searched whites (17%) thanwhen they searched African Americans (8%). A similarsurvey in New Jersey found that although people ofcolor were searched more frequently, state troopers

found drugs in vehicles driven by whites 25% of thetime, by African Americans 13%, and by Latinos 5%.


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According to a study of the US Customs

Service's practice by Lamberth Consulting,

when Customs agents stopped using racial

profiling to target potential smugglers and

began focusing on race-neutral factors such as

behavior, they increased the rate of

productive searches by more than 300%.


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Biased Policing

Biased Policing means the practice of singling

out or treating differently any person on the

basis of race, ethnicity, national origin,

religion, age, gender, gender identity, or sexual

orientation. Denver Police Department


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Biased Policing (cont.)

Similar to Racial Profiling

Broader definition (includes gender, age,

sexual orientation, etc.)

PERF (Police Executive Research Forum) has

created recommendations to help maintain

professional standards (performing spot

checks of video tapes, radio transmissions

and reports)


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Summary

Racial Profiling and Biased Policing doesnt

work!

Racial Profiling and Biased Policing is notethical!

Both practices diminish productivity and

destroy community relation efforts.


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More Information

PERF

http://www.policeforum.org/

Amnesty Internationalhttp://www.amnestyusa.org/us-human-

rights/racial-profiling/

Department of Justice

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2003/June/rac

ial_profiling_fact_sheet.pdf

Racial Profiling & Biased Policing

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