around the globe. And not just in policing, but in every walk of life. However, it has a more highly visible manifestation of social distrust in the world of policing. Our societies lead us to feel certain ways about particular groups or classes of people. We then attribute certain characteristics or attributes to that group, evoking certain predictable and socially conditioned responses.
“Our perceptions about various groups or classes allow us to use our feelings as criteria for suspicion. I don’t think many of you would deny that people of color, generally speaking, are—by the dominant culture, anyway—thought to be more likely to engage in criminal activity than non-minorities. European-Americans casually accept as fact that African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely to engage in behaviors considered inappropriate than their European-American counterparts. Now, you may not personally subscribe to this belief, but it’s difficult to deny that, on the whole, non-minorities tend to be suspicious that people of color, especially in areas where,” he held up his fingers as if making a quotation sign, “‘they don’t belong,’ are up to no good.
“Much minority targeting is circular in nature. The police target groups they believe are likely to have criminal records. There are currently more minorities per capita with criminal records; therefore, more minorities are targeted. Also, poor people are targeted, and more minorities tend to be poor. These circumstances contribute to racial profiling and the assumption that minorities are more likely to be involved in crime.
“I read an article about profiling the other day. In it was a statement that police officers are trained to investigate things that are outside the norm. Officers are trained to look for suspicious circumstances and to take action. For example, an officer passes a building where the lights are normally left on and the windows closed. Then one night he finds the lights off and a ground-level window open. This could be a suspicious circumstance, and a good officer will check it out.
“The difficulty for me is that police officers are doing the same thing with people. If officers see a person of color in a neighborhood where minorities aren’t known to live, they generally believe the circumstance gives them the right to detain, question, and search the person. The rationale is that it’s a suspicious circumstance and they have to find out if something is wrong. You see, they’ve been trained to check it out.
“When I was coming up through the ranks, we were taught that black and Latino males were the biggest potential drug couriers. We were told what age to look for, the types of vehicles they were likely to drive, and what we should look for once we got inside the car. All the profiles focused on people of color. We were instructed to use ‘pretextual stops’ to make contact, that is, to find any little thing to justify the stop, like a broken tail light, failure to use a turn signal, license plate lamp out—anything.
“We can’t allow race to be a motivation for stopping people. Using color as a suspicious circumstance is fundamentally incongruent with the principles of a democratic society. Color should never be considered suspicious and it shouldn’t be accepted as a basis for stopping a vehicle or an individual. It should never be a criterion for investigating a person to determine if criminal activity is afoot. The very term ‘racial profiling’ means that little other than race is considered. There are legitimate methods of profiling, but when you’re talking about racial profiling, you’re talking about profiling ethnicity. That’s racist and it’s discriminatory. Call it what you like, ‘A rose by any other name is just as sweet.’ If it’s ‘racial profiling,’ it’s racism. It has no place in policing, the justice system, or a democratic society.
“Unfortunately, the practice has been institutionalized, and the very nature of institutional racism is that the people involved aren’t even aware they might be doing something wrong. We unwittingly teach our children every day not to trust people of color. They watch us cross the street when an African-American approaches, or we withdraw in the elevator when a member of a minority gets on, or we put on a dinner party and don’t invite anyone of color. What we’re seeing in policing is the manifestation of an overall attitude of racism and paranoia in this society.
“I’ve listened to colleagues say things like, ‘I’m white so I can’t know exactly what it’s like,’ and then dismiss the issue because they thought someone followed them in a department store once or had their bags searched at an airport. I’m a little disturbed at what I see as a lack of understanding about the seriousness of racial profiling and the tremendous impact it has on the various targeted groups. To suggest that, because you’ve been followed through a department store or had your luggage examined by airport security once, is remotely equivalent to being racially profiled is absurd. It minimizes the seriousness of the activity and its associated consequences. And, of course, if you’re white, you can’t know what it’s like. But, I’d submit that it doesn’t matter if you or I have an understanding of what it’s like. What we need to understand is that it isn’t right. For any of us to diminish the significance of racial profiling because we can recount a story about having had our bags searched at an airport does a disservice to the people who experience the degradation of profiling on a daily basis.
“Everyone in this city is aware of the fact that police and minority relations are not good. That relationship has been strained for far too long. Each side blames the other. Officers suggest the poor relationship results from people of color not understanding policing in the same way as non-minorities.” The room groaned in disbelief. Chief Dylan continued despite the noise. “Various members of the community, however, point out that minorities seem to be targeted for increased police scrutiny. Having been in police work for more than 20 years, I can safely say the latter is probably the more correct position.
“I’ll always be open and honest with you. I’ll never cover for an inappropriate police action or an officer who violates the principles by which we operate. I’ll look closely at the practice of racial profiling and minority targeting within the city and give special attention to reviewing police activities in areas of the city dominated by minorities.
“Racial profiling is a despicable practice at best and it violates the rights of the citizens who are subjected to it. Simply put, it’s nothing less than discrimination. When police officers use race as a rationale to stop a person, we have a serious problem. Race should never be substituted for reasonable suspicion. It’s altogether unreasonable to believe that because a person belongs to a particular ethnic group that he or she is likely to be engaged in criminal activity. It’s unreasonable and completely unacceptable to subject people of color to disparate treatments and indignities because of race. I can assure you I’ll not tolerate such activities by anyone working for this agency.”
A woman from the other side of the auditorium yelled, “That’s not going to make you very popular with your cops!”
The audience began to murmur again, and it was obvious that the general consensus was that she was right. Chief Dylan responded by saying, “First of all, they’re not just my cops; they’re yours, too. Secondly, there are some exceptionally fine people working in the department. There are also some who require additional training and education, and others who require termination.”
Someone else called out, “I know that’s right!”
“I believe, however, that the good officers will support the fair and just adjudication of grievances against others involved in misconduct. I also believe they’ll work to prove they’re worthy of representing the citizens of this community. We’ll all work to build a strong, responsive, compassionate police organization you can be proud of.”
There was another enthusiastic round of applause. When the ovation died down, someone called out another question.
“Chief, you said in your remarks that we had to assume responsibility for policing in the community. Isn’t that what we pay you for?”
