The Prevalence of Racial Profiling

- by Jan Lugue 

In today's day and age, society is striving towards equal treatment as quickly as it can. Political correctness is on a lot of people's minds, policing their thoughts, words, and actions so as not to reopen past grievances towards certain groups. The movement against racial profiling emerges from this concern, to make sure that no individual is being mistreated based solely on their race. There are those who understandably fight against racial profiling and are ready to go to court when they feel like they are being mistreated. There are also others who may be wrongfully accused of racial profiling because statistics are against them. However, the number of organizations who are actually implementing measures to effectively fight profiling appears to be limited.

A few months ago, African American judge and former president of the LA police Commission David S. Cunningham accused the UCLA Police Department of racial profiling. After he finished his morning workout at a local gym, he said he was pulled over by a couple of police officers for a seat belt violation. He said that while he did remove his seat belt so he can pay the parking fee at the gym's lot, he had little time to put it back on before he was pulled over. These officers were caught on patrol car video as they used "excessive force" in detaining the judge as well as treating him with little respect when they threw him in their car. Although no grounds were found for Judge Cunningham's allegations, he has recently reopened the issue by filing a $10 million dollar claim against UCLA's administration for physical and emotional damages, money that can otherwise be used to implement ways to counter possible profiling incidents.

On the other hand, the Oakland police department has recently shown that their arrests go deeper than racial profiling. Several critics note that African Americans make up a disproportionate number of arrests and pull overs by the Oakland PD. A recent study however shows that while this may be true, most suspects described on crimes were also African Americans. While it may seem like the department is using racial profiling at first glance, one cannot ignore the fact that crimes in Oakland are, in fact, committed by African Americans. However the difficulty in discussing this topic (which might make the city appear to be defending the police department's "use" of profiling) means that making the issue and possible solutions transparent for both sides hard to achieve. Oakland PD has just recently started recruiting locally to dissuade these racial profiling claims. Time will tell if this will be effective.

Instead of readily pressing charges or avoiding the topic, the city of San Jose seems to have found an effective way to combat profiling. SJPD recently implemented a policy which forces all police officers to make note of every single circumstance in which they ask someone to sit on the curb, get in their car, or put handcuffs on. Now officers have to state the reason and manner of their stops, the race of the individual, and the outcome of the stop regardless of whether an arrest was made or not. This means that any officer who clearly stops members of a specific group can be found and disciplined accordingly. As San Jose Police Auditor Ladoris Cordell stated, "No other police department in the country is doing this, and they should be." This practice would likely reduce the prevalence of racial profiling among police departments.

Sources:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Oakland-crime-issue-goes-far-deeper-than-racial-5355633.php

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_25410009/report-blacks-comprise-62-percent-oakland-police-stops

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Judge-Alleges-Racial-Profiling-by-UCLA-Police-243428651.html

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/San-Jose-Police-Unveil-New-Limited-Detention-Policy-222207931.html