Racial Profiling

By

Sharon L. Jones

December, 2002

Keywords: Discretion, Baraka, appearance, Rudolph Alexander, Profiling

The guarantee to all persons of equal protection under the law is one of the most fundamental principles of our democratic society. Law enforcement officers should not endorse or act upon stereotypes, attitudes, or belief that’s a person race, ethnicity, or national origin to increase that person’s reason to act unlawfully. One of the major causes of this mistrust is the controversial practice of racial profiling. Racial profiling is defined as any police-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than the behavior of an individual or information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity.

Two corollary principles that follow from this definition of racial profiling are that police may not use racial or ethnic stereotypes as factors in selecting whom to stop-and-search, and police may use race or ethnicity to determine whether a person matches a specific description of a particular suspect. Concerns about police discretion have been broken into two stages. One is an officer’s decision to stop a vehicle or person and the actions of the officer during the stop. The second has numerous questions such as "are officers questioning the occupants about things related to the stop?" "How long are the encounters lasting?" Answers to these and other questions are critical to determining whether there is racial profiling or not. (www.usf409.mail.yahoo). Many traffic officers say that by following any vehicle for one or two minutes they can observe a basis on which to stop it. Many police departments have not developed formal, written, standards directing officers on how to use this discretion. Instead officers pass judgment and suspicion on innocent motorist. Many young officers observe the action of experienced officers. Police departments use traffic-stops as a means of finding illicit drugs and weapons. Unfortunately some officers use traffic stops as a means of tracking down drug or gun couriers. These decisions are seldomly documented and reviewed. Leaving individual officers rarely made accountable for theses decisions.

Many black motorists today claim that the only reason they are pulled over for highway stops is their race. Once they are pulled over they claim they are subject to harassment, even traumatic searches. Of course there are obnoxious officers. Some officers may ignore their training and target minorities. Since the installation of video cameras in patrol cars, most charges of police racism have been disproved. (www.usf409.mail.yahoo). In Waynesville, Ohio, Mayor Charles Sanders has called for the chief’s resignation because of a February 26 incident in which two Waynesville officers allegedly harassed a group of four men, two who were black and a third who was Latino. The men stated that the officers pulled over their car drew their guns, handcuffed them and made them lie down on the side of the road. Saul Plaza 19, of Monroe was the driver of the vehicle. The passengers were DeAngelo Harrington, 18, and Dwenton Jackson, 19, both of Middletown. Plaza is in the U.S. Army, stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY. Elena Echarri of WLWT Eyewitness News said the men were held for about an hour while the two officers searched the car for drugs. They found nothing. The officers mentioned multiple reasons for pulling them over, but they never issued a ticket. Being that the mayor is black he feels that the Feb. 26 incident illustrates how the police treat blacks in that area. The Warren County sheriff is investigating the allegations. Kevin Harper the Waynesville village manager defended the officers by saying they were not stopped because of their color of their skin, but because their car had a cracked taillight, a loud exhaust and improperly displayed temporary tags. Also the time of the stop at 12:30 came into evidence. Claiming at that hour they could not see well enough to know that race of the people in the car. This incident had affected tourism for this town as well as for this state. (www.channelcincinnati.com).

Racial profiling by police officers would make more sense if whites were targeted instead of African Americans according to author Rudolph Alexander, Jr. an associate professor of social work at Ohio State University. His book Race and Justice examined statistics of the eight most serious crimes, called index crimes. In these categories, whites were more likely to be arrested for six of the eight crimes (rape, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) African Americans were more likely to get stopped for two of these crimes that were more serious: murder and robbery. Many traffic stops based on racial profiling involves suspicions of illegal drugs in the vehicle. But even then profiling of blacks is not warranted, Alexander said. He is attacking the theory that profiling is appropriate for blacks or any racial or ethnic group. African Americans are involved in crimes higher that their population rate. Racial profiling is based on assumption that certain people should of age or race be considered criminal suspects. In Race and Justice, Alexander said that "racial profiling is just one example of how African Americans are still being victims of unequal justice in the United States from a variety of institutions, from schools to courts to law enforcement." Many minorities are accused of "playing the race card" whenever they make accusations of racism. While improvement in racial interactions has certainly occurred, it is clear minorities still receive less justice in this country. African American juveniles are more likely to be arrested for murder and robbery, but for offenses such as drug violations and weapons, white juveniles take the majority of those arrested. Alexander mentions a study in Michigan found that white youth stopped by police on suspicion of criminal acts were more likely the black youths to be released at the scene, while black youths were more likely to be detained. "In the juvenile justice system, white adolescents are going to receive the greatest proportion of breaks, and African Americans are going to receive less" said Alexander. Drug use is often seen as a mental health issue for white suburban youths, it is treated as a criminal matter for blacks. (Racial Profiling: Shows Unequal Justice For Blacks, 2000).

Professor Randall Kennedy of Harvard University says that even if a law enforcement policy exists that affects African American suspects it will remain to be justified as a "public good" because law-abiding African Americans are more often victims of crimes committed by other African Americans. Police racial profiling may also be a result of organizational and administrative direction as opposed to bias by an individual officer "on the beat" or in a cruiser.

On July 30,1993, Officer Gildo was called to a high crime neighborhood in East Oakland to investigate a "possible drug deal in progress", seeing that these calls were common in this area it took the officer an hour to arrive at the scene. When he arrived he noticed several individuals standing around a brown Honda with two individuals inside. The car takes off but then quickly pulls about halfway into a driveway down the street. Inside the car was nineteen year-old Baraka Hull, and a friend who were sitting in a car and talking a few feet from his house. Several months earlier Baraka and his friends decided to purchase guns for protection due to the fact that they were in a rough neighborhood. One of the officers began to get out of the car. It was then that boys remembered the guns being in the glove box Baraka had to find a way to get the guns away from that area knowing that the police were going to search. So he quickly put the guns inside his pants jumped out of the car and began to run. The officer notices a silver flash and then labels it as a large frame Colt .38 Special it is a rare and valuable single action target pistol. The officer says that while running Baraka points the weapon at him and he must defend himself so he fires a quick shot and the young man falls forward. As he falls forward the weapons flies out of his hand. The officer has just shot and killed a 19-year old black man. (Burris, 1999) Some witnesses from the crowd claimed that Gil had called Hull a "nigger motherfucker" and had shouted other racial slurs at him before shooting him. Relatives called the shooting "unjustified murder" and wanted Dil fired. The family’s lawyer claimed Hull was "another example of African-American males being shot in the back by white police officers" He said Gil was a violent pathological racist and claimed that self-defense was a cover up of illegal conduct. Hull’s father accepted a settlement of $200,000. Half of which went to the civil rights attorney. Hull’s mother felt the amount was insufficient and went to trial. Baraka’s friend (driver of the Honda) was called to the witness stand and told how Hull came in possession of the gun. The driver had bought the gun on the street and on that day he shoved the weapon across the seat to Hull when he saw Gil start to approach the car. It was then that Baraka "started" to put the gun in his waistband and began to run. Not known at the time the driver loaded the gun with the wrong ammunition, failing to cycle a round to the chamber to make the gun work. During trial a lot of jaws dropped when the Officers wife showed up at trial: the officer’s wife was black, so that was very helpful towards the officer’s case. The case ended by the city giving the Mother a large sum of money. Which to her in no way, shape, or form will be justice for the death of her only son. (Burris, 1999. p.100-104).

There are two types of police discretion used today. There is low discretion and there is high discretion. Several factors influence an officer’s decision to stop-and search an individual. As for traffic stops in high discretion the decision to stop a person is often based on the officer’s experience in the field. Low discretion can include those based on reports or on suspicion. High discretion includes stops for safety belt warning, failure to signal lane changes and other nonmoving and minor vehicle violations. Theses high-discretion stops invite both intentional and unintentional abuses. Police are just as subject to the racial and ethnic stereotypes they learn from our culture as any citizen. Unless reported, stops create an environment that will allow the stereotypes to continue. The reason an officer gives for stopping a vehicle is very important information that is collected. There are many reasons why an individual will be stopped. Discretion is at the root of a law enforcement officer’s job, and it permits problem solving. It also provides opportunities for racial discrimination to affect their train of thought. The levels of discretion involved in traffic-stops vary. Officer’s responding to a 911 call define this type of low-discretion differently from other law enforcement actions because the sources are externally based rather than an officer’s individual determination. In both low and high discretion stops, the driver has violated the law, and an officer’s responses may vary. Many officers have difficulty determining whether to stop someone or not. Behavior of the operator of the vehicle, an officer’s experience, their department policies and procedures are some of the factors in the decision to stop a vehicle.(www.usf409.mail.yahoo).

West African immigrant Amadou Diallo, was gunned down on February 4, 1999, by four New York City police officers. The young man was fired at forty one times and was hit nineteen. The officers were seeking a rapist who had been described as a black male in his early twenties and they felt that he just fit the description. The officer’s even claimed that he was armed and it later showed that he was not. The case was against Edward McMellon a six-year veteran, fired sixteen times at Diallo. He has had five civilian complaints alleging excessive force, abuse and racial insensitivity. Sean Carrol also on the force for six years shot at the victim sixteen times. In August 1999, Carrol was shot at by a suspect in the Bronx. Carrol fired back but missed, and the suspect was never found. He has also had three civilian complaints alleging excessive force. Eight year officer Kenneth Bass fired eight times at Diallo. He has had three civilian complaints alleging excessive force. Then there is Officer Richard Murphy who fired four times and has had no prior shooting incidents. Jurors deliberated for three days before reaching a final verdict. The juror consisted of four black women, one white woman, and seven white men. As the verdict was read, Diallo’s mother Kadiadou sat weeping silently n the front row of the courtroom. After the final "not guilty" was read, the officer’s hugged each other, hugged their lawyers and then the courtroom was empty. (www.abcnews.go.com). The killing of Diallo and the outcome of the trial encouraged many to come forward with their stories. Many African Americans as well as Latinos of the New York City area reported that the New York Police Department had been doing the profiling for quite some time. In 1997 and 1998 it revealed that mostly the white Street Crime Unit stopped and searched 45,000 men, mostly African American and Latinos, and making only about 9000 arrests. For every 16 African Americans stopped and frisked; only one is arrested. The perception that African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and other minorities are more likely to carry drugs than their white neighbors increases the complexities of police discretion in stops and searches. The pressure was from the war drugs has lead some police officers to target people of color whom police believe to be involved in drug use and trafficking. Misleading minority arrests for drug possessions and distribution have led police and others that race is a legitimate factor in the decision to stop or search an individual. Existing data of how often searches take place suggest that stop-and search practices have becomes a game of "search and you will find". Officer’s who search people of color will arrest more people of color than whites. Regardless of the stereotypes, Unites States laws do not, and should, not permit race to be used as a reason for stopping and searching. (Ramierez, McDevitt, Farrell, 2000).

Officers assigned high and low percentages to every piece of clothing, head, footwear that they say contribute to racial profiling and makes them confront a person. Whites wearing similar clothing rarely are stopped. (www.villagevoice.com,2000). Here are a few of the things that some police officers look for when making a stop for questioning:

Young teenagers are urged to be conscious of the clothes that they wear. Also what part they choose to place items such as a wallet or ID. Make sure they are not in a place where some officers think that a weapon can be carried, or they risk the opportunity of being assaulted or even being fatally shot. (www.villagevoice.com, 2000).

Racial profiling is something that has been going on for quite some time now, and there is no way of knowing when it will stop. The only way to prevent it is being careful and hope that you encounter that law-abiding officer that will do his job correctly.

Burris J.L. (1999). Blue vs. Black: Lets End the Conflict Between Cops and Minorities (1^st ed.) New York (p.100-104).

Noel, P. (2000). Portraits in Racial Profiling. Retrieved November 3, 2002, from http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0011/noel.php

MacDonald, H. (2001). The Myth of Racial Profiling. Retrieved November 3, 2002, from http://www.city-journal.org/html

Rusch, E. (2002). Biking While Black. Retrieved November 3, 2002, from http://www.mojones.com/news/hellsraiser

Not Guilty in Diallo Case (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2002, from http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/diallo000226-verdict.html

Anger follows cops acquittal in Diallo case (2000). Retrieved November 3, 2002 from http://www.Namibian.com.Na/netstories/2000/February/World/cops.html

Serpico, F. (2000). Amadou’s Ghost. Retrieved November 3, 2002, from http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0010/serpico

Lynch, T. (2000) "We Own the Night." Retrieved November 3, 2002, from http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-056es.html

Ramierz, D., McDevitt, J. & Farrell, A. (2000). A Resource Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collection Systems: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned. Retrieved October 24, 2002, from http://www.usf409.mail.yahoo.com

Sheldon, M. (2000). Waynesville Police Accused of Profiling Retrieved October 23, 2002 from http://www.channelcincinnati.com/cin/news/stories/news

Siegal, L.J., Welsh B.C., Senna J.J. (2003). Juvenile Delinquency (8^th ed.). California: Thomas Wadsworth. (p.403-404).

Racial Profiling Shows Unequal Justice for Blacks, Book Says (2000) Retrieved October 23, 2002 from http://www.acs.ohio-state.edu/units/research/archive/racejust.htm

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