Police and Racial Profiling

1985 Words4 Pages

The term “racial profiling” is used by agencies of law enforcement to describe an individual’s race or ethnicity as a factor in articulating reasonable suspicion to stop, question, or arrest an individual (Racial Profiling 2001: 1). Police officers have the discretion to make decisions regarding whom they stop. However, if any law enforcement employee profiles potential suspects based on their race or ethnicity they violate the civil rights of the individual. If you suspect someone of a crime based on their race and ethnicity you are violating the civil rights of these minority groups. If any officer suspects another officer of racial profiling they must notify their supervisor. When a situation like this comes up an officer who informs on one of his own could result in negative consequences for the whistleblower. He could be labeled by the other officers as a ’rat’ and could lead him to be singled out. There are a lot of gray areas within the issue of racial profiling. The State of Arizona and its political subdivisions cannot tolerate racial profiling if Arizona is to remain consistent and fair in its application of justice (AZ Attorney General, 2001:2). In this article I will discuss law enforcement concerns, private resident concerns, current policies and procedures, and training. I believe that police officers need to stop people they suspect of an offence [it is not the role of the police officer to decide guilt –that is a matter for the courts] to reduce the amount of crime offenders, but they need to be careful that they do not cross the fine line between racial profiling and suspicion. The purpose of this article is to inform readers that police discretion not only encompasses use of force, gratuiti...

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...rieved October 29, 2004 from

http://www.attorney_general.state.az.us/law_enforcement/racial%20profiling.PDF

(2002)ORCPI (expand) Training Classes. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www.orcpi.com/training/classes.html.

Pampel, Fred C.(2004)Racial profiling.New York: Facts on File. Pampel.2004.Racial profiling.New York: Facts on File.

(2001). Racial Profiling. Retrieved September 21,2004 from http://www1.umn.edu/irp/irpcur.topics.html. Who wrote this piece? What agency/organization is it affiliated with?

(2001). The Myth of Racial Profiling. Retrieved September 20,2004 from

http://www.city-journal.org/html/11_2_the_myth.html. Who wrote this piece? What agency/organization is it affiliated with?

(2000). Tucson Police Department. Retrieved September 21, 2004 from

http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/police/Public_Info/Racial_Profiling/racial_profiling.

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