Racial Profiling Argument Essay

Racial profiling is the use of race as grounds for suspecting someone of committing an offense. Profiling is used by law enforcement in different ways, such as pulling people over on the highway, finding undocumented immigrants and questioning at police stops. Racial profiling is wrong because it prevents police from serving the entire community, is an ineffective way of determining if someone has violated the law, and it is unconstitutional.

Actually, racial profiling is unacceptable due to that it causes police to focus on one group of people and not protect the whole community. Many officers overlook the white community and focus on the colored population. Racial profiling is also used in the war on drugs. Racial disparity in marijuana arrest

There have been plenty of times when profiling has wrong and did not help law enforcement. For example, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana there was a 37 year old man named Alton Sterling selling CDs outside of a gas station. A 911 call was made, and when the officers arrived they confronted Sterling and then arrested him. As Alton was forced to the ground, one of the policemen shot him twice in the chest. (CNN) The officer had no reason to shoot him, "Alton was a respected man. He was beloved in the community. He did not deserve the treatment and this excessive force that was exerted on him by the police department," Jordan, the Sterling family attorney. As a result of the incident, both of the officers were put on administrative leave. Another example of when law enforcement used racial profiling and were wrong is when stopping colored people driving because of their race. Police stop more colored people driving in cars for being colored than white people who have actually committed a crime. “For every 10,000 residents, about 3,400 more black people are stopped than whites. Stopped blacks are 127% more likely to be frisked - then stopped whites”(Ayers). Police should have other reasons than skin color to stop people driving. Even though Colored people are pulled over more, they are less likely to have contraband or a reason to be arrested (OHRC). Racial profiling should not be used because it is an unsuccessful tool used by law