Racial Profiling

[BigMix]

racial profiling shows that a raced based democracy is contradictory in terms.

One can't have a democracy, with a racial heirarchy. Inevitably, the race that occupies the upper strata will always stereotype an entire race or group based on the actions of a few. Simplistic and convenient. i.e all muslims are not terrorists, but all terrorists are muslims.

[angmill08]

racial profiling is a waste of time and money. its convenient, but like you pointed out angmill, it doesn't really lead to real change. there are alternatives. in the great britain situation, i am not exactly sure of what they are, b/c the train is public and people are not subject to searches like they are on a plane or a bus, but we have to figure out something.

I also wonder what the alternatives are. Anyone have ideas?

[faith2005]

i heard a prof. speak from northeastern university school of law. she had conducted seminars with police officers about different ways to get rid of racial profiling. here is some information. i didn't read through all of it, but it quotes the prof. deborah ramirez in the articles about racial profiling. it pretty much talks about how racial profiling doesn't work b/c even though more contraband is found in black and hispanic cars, its the result of huge increases in the number of people of color who are stopped.

http://www.justicejournalism.org/crimeguide/chapter04/chapter04_pg03.html

http://www.lamberthconsulting.com/about-us/index.asp

[YoungIke]

racial profiling is a waste of time and money. its convenient, but like you pointed out angmill, it doesn't really lead to real change. there are alternatives. in the great britain situation, i am not exactly sure of what they are, b/c the train is public and people are not subject to searches like they are on a plane or a bus, but we have to figure out something.

Either full scale intergration or full scale separation. But that still wouldn't kill the profiling within the race.

I also wonder what the alternatives are. Anyone have ideas?

[BigMix]

[quote author=faith2005 link=topic=38710.msg664589#msg664589 it pretty much talks about how racial profiling doesn't work b/c even though more contraband is found in black and hispanic cars, its the result of huge increases in the number of people of color who are stopped.

yep. self fulfilling prophecy.

[Muse]

On BBC news today, it was verified that the Brasilian man was shot 8 times. Now the question is wasn't that a tad bit excessive? THis type of treatment is only going to encourage these so called "terrorist"

[ImVinny!]

As a reporter, I get those descriptions all the time .. "The shooter is described a black man, average height, weight, etc.," I always wonder how much good it does to print that stuff.

And police are still definitely doing some profiling on black people. Yesterday we got a press release that said something like this. "A police officer noticed the black man in the nice car park and walk across the street. The officer ran the plates and noticed the car was stolen and that the suspect was on parole. The officer called another 35 officers to search for the suspect, who did not find him after a four-hour search."
So we called said police department to find out why the department spent so much time/money searching for this suspect -- and no one was able to give us an answer.

You think there is a problem with the police trying to catch people who steal cars and who are against thier parole? Come onnow.

[j.rosh]

As a reporter, I get those descriptions all the time .. "The shooter is described a black man, average height, weight, etc.," I always wonder how much good it does to print that stuff.

And police are still definitely doing some profiling on black people. Yesterday we got a press release that said something like this. "A police officer noticed the black man in the nice car park and walk across the street. The officer ran the plates and noticed the car was stolen and that the suspect was on parole. The officer called another 35 officers to search for the suspect, who did not find him after a four-hour search."
So we called said police department to find out why the department spent so much time/money searching for this suspect -- and no one was able to give us an answer.

You think there is a problem with the police trying to catch people who steal cars and who are against thier parole? Come onnow.

Nothing wrong with catching thieves, but did your read the description she gave in her post?

[I hear America singing]

Racial profiling, when used in combination with other factors, makes a whole lot of sense.

If you're a cop and you see a middle-aged white man in Compton on a Thursday night, it's reasonable to assume there's a more than likely chance that he's up to no good.  This doesn't warrant an arrest, but further investigation would be prudent.

The same goes for a Muslim in the middle of Nome, Alaska.  A cop is trained to see things that don't fit- using race as a factor isn't racist, only an admittance of cultural realities.

If white guys with goatees had bombed the Trade Center, I would understand (and expect, to be honest) to be searched more closely at airports.

[Muse]

GOod point I hear America, but when is the line drawn? What if a Muslim student wearing a packback gets on the metro to attend classes? Should he be stopped everytime he wants to get on the train?