Running head: POLICE AND RACIAL PROFILING 1

Police and Racial Profiling

Samantha Wilkinson

Stephen F. Austin State University

POLICE AND RACIAL PROFILING 2

Police and Racial Profiling

When the average person turns on the local or national news there is a high probability

that police misconduct, brutality, or racial profiling will be a top issue that day. Recent examples

include a case in Ferguson Missouri. In this case, Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager

was killed by Darren Wilson, a white officer. Eric Garner, a black man, was targeted for a petty

crime in New York and was put into a chokehold by white officers. Another case with racial

controversy involves Ahmed Mohamed, a Muslim fourteen year old, who brought to school a

beeping and strange-looking homemade device that turned out to be a clock. Ahmed was arrested

by the police. All of these cases and many more have led the public to believe that police are

actively profiling individuals and taking unlawful action against them. The questions that arise

are: how the media affects the perception of racial profiling, what exactly is racial profiling, is

racial profiling actually occurring, how can this problem be limited/eliminated from police

departments, or how can the public perception be altered if racial profiling is not occurring.

The media has a large amount of discretion when it comes to what is aired and talked

about. What qualifies as a problem to the American public at any given moment has more to do

with what people are paying attention to, and how they perceive the issue, than with objective

conditions (Graziano, et al, 2010, p.53). There are always multiple noteworthy stories than can

be examined and explained by the media, but with limited spots available to either air or print the

story, certain stories take precedent over others. The news stations also compete with others and

they each want to be the most popular and trusted news station. To be seen as the leading station,

news media places weights on pieces of information to make the story more impactful than

another station (Graziano, 2010, p. 54). The media has recently noted that the American public

is highly fascinated with stories of racial profiling by the police. The media has been able to
POLICE AND RACIAL PROFILING 3

capitalize on this issue by consistently finding cases of what the public perceives as police

misconduct or brutality based on race. As reports of this matter continue to be the headlines, the

public is more likely to perceive officers as prejudiced, engaging in racial profiling, and

discriminating against minorities and minority neighborhoods (Graziano, et al, 2010, p. 55).

The First Amendment provides the right of freedom of the press and this right is upheld allowing

for the media to release the news. Whether or not racial profiling is an issue or not, the media

does and will continue to have the ultimate discretions as to what the public knows.

There can be confusion of racial profiling and criminal profiling. With the media

statements and other members of the public not knowing the correct distinction, some people

may believe that criminal profiling is the same as racial profiling. If the two terms are used

synonymously, issues could arise because the terms have separate and distinct meanings. There

are many reasons why the terms are used interchangeably including the fact that criminal profile

will often include, among other things, race and/or national origin (Fredrickson & Siljander,

2002, p. 18).

Criminal profiling is used by officers and law enforcement to make decisions.

Criminal profiling can be defined many ways but, all definitions suggest a process

whereby law enforcement personnel make judgments about another, relative to possible

criminal activity, based on a number of overt and subtle factors which may or may not

include such things as the persons race, national origin, manner of dress and grooming,

behavioral characteristics, when and where the observation is made, the circumstances

under which the observation is made, and relative to information the officer/investigator

may already possess (Fredrickson& Siljander , 2002, p. 16).

POLICE AND RACIAL PROFILING 4

Criminal profiling is legal in law enforcement. Racial profiling is a term that is generally

understood to mean enforcement action on the part of police officers that is motivated more by

racial bias than by any reasonable suspicion or probable cause that may exist under the

circumstances (Fredrickson& Siljander, 2002, p. 5). Racial profiling is illegal and not allowed

to be used to make decisions by police officers and other law enforcement personnel.

Understanding the definitions and distinctions between criminal profiling and racial profiling

magnifies the need for the public to use them properly and not interchangeably.

Many stories have the motive claimed as racial profiling. Police officers are being seen

by more members of the public in a negative light that portrays them as using racial profiling.

This raises the question: is racial profiling occurring in police departments? Many organizations

and individuals have researched and examined incidents closely to determine if racial profiling is

an issue within police departments. In 2008, RAND researchers completed a comprehensive

assessment of the impact of the collaborative agreement on police-community relations in

Cincinnati, Ohio. The research done in Cincinnati observed that black and nonblack drivers

have similar stop outcomes. They have an equal chance of being searched, an equal chance of

having a short traffic stop, a smaller chance of receiving a citation, and, when searched, an equal

chance of being found with contraband. The study also found no evidence of a department-wide

pattern of racial bias in the decision to make stops (Ridgeway, 2009, p. xiv). The study explained

that there was not a finding of racial profiling by the department as a whole, but there were

different results when looking strictly at officers as individuals. The RAND study found that

several officers stop substantially more black drivers than their peers do. The RAND study in

Cincinnati, Ohio revealed the issue that even if police departments as a whole do not have a
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racial profiling issue, that individual officers may racially profile those individuals or groups that

they stop.

In another study published, the authors examine if racial profiling plays a deciding role in

the decision to shoot. The study was done as a response to the increase in publicity of high-

profile officer shootings of unarmed black men. Police officers were compared with community

members in terms of the speed and accuracy with which they made simulated decisions to shoot

(or not shoot) Black and White targets. Both samples exhibited robust racial bias in response

speed. The studies involved the participants completing a version of the video game simulation

with either a little time window or a more restrictive time window (Correll, et al, 2007, p. 1014).

The study incorporated different groups of people and their results were examined. In the

simulations

White and Black men appeared in a variety of background images. Participants were

instructed that any armed target posed an imminent threat and should be shot as quickly

as possible. Unarmed targets posed no threat and should be flagged accordingly by

pushing the dont-shoot button, again as quickly as possible. The speed and accuracy

with which these decisions were made served as our primary dependent variables, and

performance was compared across three samples: officers from the Denver Police

Department, civilians drawn from the communities those officers served, and a group of

officers from across the country attending a 2-day police training seminar (Correll, et al,

2007, p. 1020).

This study brings to light that critics of the police, community members, may also make similar

decisions. At least on the simulation used here, the officers ultimate decisions about whether or

not to shoot are less susceptible to racial bias than are the decisions of community members
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(Correll, et al, 2007, p. 1022). This Denver study also showed that racial profiling could be

decreased by police training. The issue of police using racial profiling can damage reputations,

and this Denver study brings to light that the police are less susceptible to racial bias than

members of the community. Understanding what racial profiling is and if it is actually occurring

in police departments is important to understand. Understanding the distinctions will allow the

public to understand what actions are occurring in law enforcement. Community members also

need to place themselves in the shoes of an officer and see what it takes to make a split second

decision to shoot or not when their life is in danger. There are various studies being done

throughout the United States. Each has results that slightly vary from the next. To answer

whether racial profiling is occurring in police departments, there must be an examination of

individual cities and states.

If racial profiling is an issue for an individual officer or a department as a whole there are

many causes, Satzewich and Shaffir provide evidence that police officers in their study (even

officers from ethnic minorities) saw profiling as integral to police work and admitted that the

racial appearance of the citizen was one factor among others that they took into account when

deciding whether to intervene (Chan, 2011, p. 76). The police subculture is developed when

officers share many things including: norms, values, goals, lifestyles, and occupational structure

that is different from the majority of society. (Chan, 2011, p. 77) The police subculture enables

the police to draw upon a vocabulary of explanations that permits them to deny responsibility

when faced with the allegation that their profiling is racially motivated (Chan , 2011, p. 76).

Police subculture can affect the individual officer's attitude. To eliminate or limit the problems of

racial profiling, police officers need to make a change in their subculture to view racial profiling
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as wrong. If the culture overall views racial profiling as wrong, new officers will not feel the

pressure to conform and act in a racially biased way.

Biased-based policing has emerged as an important issue and is defined as any police-

initiated activity that relies on a persons race or ethnic background rather than on behavior as a

basis for identifying that individual as being involved in criminal activity. Since the 1990s

racial profiling has been a hot topic for the media, as seen with the Rodney King incident in

California. A survey indicated that 53 percent of Americans believed that police engaged in

racial profiling, and 69 percent disagreed with this practice (Dempsey& Forst , 2007, p. 242 ).

Increasing the problem to now include more races than African Americans, were the attacks on

United States soil on September 11, 2001. After the 9/11 attacks, those of Muslim descent also

became the target of racial profiling.

Mere perception of racial profilings existence can result in problems in the community.

It is clear that, given the power and discretion available to police, the experience of being subject

to racial profiling can lead both to a feeling of being harassed and to a sense of alienation from

the legal system and the wider society (Chan , 2011, p. 77). With police having discretion in

when and who to stop, care needs to be given to limiting or eliminating racial profiling in

policing. Limited studies and anecdotal evidence have helped communities and departments

understand what is happening and how to work on issues (Dempsey& Forst, 2007, p. 242). The

research done and available allows departments to know where an issue is occurring and possible

solutions to the problems. Police departments will have to work on limiting or eliminating racial

profiling issues if they want to have positive relations with the community.

Research has shown that the media has discretion to decide what stories will make

headlines and how the media wants to weigh the pieces of the story. The media is a powerful
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filter, with this discretion is can be seen that the publics view on police use of racial profiling

can be driven by the medias desire to be the most popular station (Graziano, et al, 2010, p. 54).

The issue of understanding what the difference between criminal profiling and racial profiling is

important. If the terms are used inappropriately by the media or individuals problems could arise

with the misunderstanding. Criminal profiling is legal and in some cases needed by police

officers whereas racial profiling is illegal and should not be used by police officers. When

deciding if racial profiling occurs in police departments you must look to research and studies

done within your community. There are cases where the police department as a whole is acting

ethically, but individual officers may be using racial profiling as a tool to stop, arrest, or in rare

cases shoot citizens. When discrimination is occurring, preventive measures must be

implemented (Fredrickson& Siljander, 2002, p. 51). Public perception has an impact on police

departments. The publics views need to be taken into consideration, and the police department

must work on limiting or eliminating racial profiling to keep the trust of the department. Racial

profiling will continue to be a hot topic for the media if law enforcement does not take steps to

improve their image, but this problem has a solution: competent legal training and oversight

(Fredrickson& Siljander, 2002, p. 51).

 References Cited

Chan, J.(2011). Racial Profiling and Police Subculture. Canadian Journal of Criminology and
Criminal Justice 53(1), 75-78. University of Toronto Press. Retrieved September 18,
2015, from Project MUSE database.

Correll, J., Park, B., Judd, C. M., Wittenbrink, B., Sadler, M. S., & Keesee, T. (2007). Across the
thin blue line: Police officers and racial bias in the decision to shoot.Journal Of
Personality And Social Psychology, 92(6), 1006-1023.

Dempsey, J., & Forst, L. (2009). Police Ethics and Police Deviance. In An introduction to
policing (5th ed., pp. 225-255). Australia: Delmar Cengage Learning.

Fredrickson, D. D., & Siljander, R. P. (2002). Racial Profiling : Eliminating the Confusion
Between Racial and Criminal Profiling and Clarifying What Constitutes Unfair
Discrimination and Persecution. Springfield, Ill: Charles C Thomas.

Graziano, L., Schuck, A., & Martin, C. (2010). Police Misconduct, Media Coverage, and Public
Perceptions of Racial Profiling: An Experiment. Justice Quarterly, 27(1), 52-76

Ridgeway G. Cincinnati Police Department Traffic Stops : Applying RAND's Framework To

Analyze Racial Disparities [e-book]. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation; 2009.
Available from: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 18,
2015.