The most common instant of racial profiling comes from traffic violations. When officers pull someone over of a minority race, there is a pattern of aggressive behavior that tends to come into play. In December of 2012, a young black male name Carlos Riley Jr. was stopped for a traffic violation by an officer in street clothes. According to Riley, the officer reached through the window and began threatening him. During this time the officer went to pull his gun but accidently shot himself in the leg. In fear Riley took the gun and threw it and ran away. The department denied this claim but later found evidence that supported it. Police hostility is not limited to the average African-American but also celebrities. Actor Tyler Perry reported an account of his own where an officer stopped him and became suspicious of him because Perry said he wanted to make sure he wasn’t being followed and that his vehicle had tinted windows. Perry said during this time, the officers began trying to pull the keys out of his car and questioning what was wrong with him. Perry tried cooperating with the officers but they seemed to become more hostile towards him when he did. This hostility though ended when another officer arrived that was an African-American and explained who Tyler Perry was and received an apology from the police. The abuses from these events are very alarming because no evidence of retaliation were shown by the people stopped by the police. In ways it seems that these officers are out looking for problems to cause themselves. To add on to the abuse shown by these officers, rarely are they ever punished for their actions because it is based on their interpretation of the situation. These events tend to happen in areas with a high concentration of minorities and a history of people to fight back. Due to this, it leads to officers being quick to become aggressive upon coming across someone of a different ethnicity. There is also belief that these officers tend to consider someone of color to be more dangerous than the armed officer themselves. This may be denied by department but when you look at different accounts of police violence, you hear the same response from those officers; I had fear for my life. In most of those cases, the man isn’t armed but the officer was led to believe that because of skin color. The most common case of racial profiling can be seen day to day in traffic situations.
The idea of racial profiling is rejected by most court rulings saying that it is merely based on what they want to believe the situation was. There is evidence that proves racial profiling because in society the major of police stops are on minorities, and in most cases all of them are innocent. The only reason there is belief that minorities make a majority of crimes is because only mostly minorities are questioned and searched. Of course you are going to find someone who is doing illegal activity. If the amounts of stops were distributed equally among all races, you would probably find an equal amount of crime among all the races. Since the belief is though that minorities commit most of the crimes, they will be searched much more that the whites. An article in the New York Times talks about how the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk laws were ruled as a violation of the constitution. Although this seems to be a victory to some, the article points out that it does little to stop would the police practice. Loop holes are found around the fourth amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. An officer can stop, question, and search anyone, even a black man that the officer is suspicious about and considered not a violation because the man is free to walk away because it is their constitutional right to reject all the officers’ requests. Since a lot of people don’t know that they allow the officer to continue and the officer has the right not to tell you that you can reject. Since minorities can’t fully be protected by the 4th amendment unless they know how it works, officers will continue to profile and target people by race and not be stopped for it because they will have given them consent to continue. This is also the case now with airlines. Since the 9/11 attacks, people of middle-eastern decent, or people who even look the part are kept under close watch. They are even sometimes detained and sent into questioning because of their outward appearance. This applies for many places though however. If an officer was to see a black man who appeared to be middle or lower class in a rich neighborhood, he would more than likely be stopped. Or if a Latino was seen around any of the borders, they would be asked by officers to see identification. In all these cases though these people would have the right to refuse any search or questions asked of them because of protection of the 4th amendment.
Where does racial profiling come from? Is it racism or is it something else? Although racism can play a part of racial profiling, the main reason for it is stereotyping. Psychologists have shown that stereotyping is typical human behavior even if you believe it or not. Do to this, law enforcement tends to use this as a way of policing. All people tend to think of Mexicans as illegal immigrants, Blacks being gang related, middle-eastern people being terrorist, and so on. Although not everyone believes this, you hear these things all the time leading you to know different races for different things. In an article, officer Ron Davis talks back on his career and admits to using racial profiling but that it wasn’t a conscious action. Still, complaints are received by police departments saying that racial profiling was used against them. One police department alone in Alameda county, 30 complaints have been issued to their department and 3 were found to be improper actions by police, which to most isn’t a significant sign of the issue. Officers may be using this to stop people unconsciously but the three that were found improper may have shown signs of racism as well. Even across the world, gypsies in Europe face stereotypes. A family of gypsy living in Sweden, along with 5,000 other gypsies found a police profile labeling them in a watch for violent crimes. The family is outrage by the assumption because even their young daughter was on this list. Across Europe, gypsies face racism and racial profiling from others. Some who are honest about it like a French interior minister who says that the gypsy lifestyle is "confrontational" to that of the French. Whether intentional or not, racial profiling is fueled by the people who stereotype against other races.
Racial profiling has been brought to the attention of police departments by many just brush them aside and deny any claims. They believe that all people who claim that an officer used racial profiling are just using their opinion of why the officer stopped them. It is true but there is also proof that racial profiling exists. The fact that the majorities of stops preformed by officers on the streets are on the minorities should be an indicator that this profiling is present. Officers see a black or Latino man walking around in a neighborhood they don’t belong or in old clothes and they figure that person is up to no good. A lot of this has to do with where those officers are patrolling. Think of this, the deeper parts of Santa Maria have police patrolling everywhere but when you come over towards Orcutt, you may see one or two but that’s about it. The point of this is, with a majority of the officers in Santa Maria, they are more likely to find stop and arrest more Latinos than the officers in Orcutt stop white people because there are a lot more police officers over there. This leads to the belief that white people don’t commit much crime but the Latinos do so police should patrol the Latino neighborhoods more intensely. If Orcutt were to have that many police officers patrolling the area, there would probably be a rise in stops and arrests there too, which in the end would balance out the profiling. Across the country police departments receive complaints about racial profiling and hardly are they acknowledged. LAPD has received 1,200 complaints and have denied all of them because they believe the people base it off opinion or have a reason for it. Racial profiling has led to some tragic mistakes like the case of Trayvon Martin, Andy Lopez, Marlon Brown, and Jonathan Ferrell all which were actions token against them based on their race.
Racial profiling can be an unconscious reaction by police that causes physical and emotional abuse to the person. Sometimes however, they are aware of what they are doing and use excessive force that sometimes results in death. On average and African-American male is killed every twenty eight hours by police, security, or vigilantes. In the last couple of years alone, there have been tragic outcomes of police using excessive force on minorities. The one most people have heard about is the case of Trayvon Martin. In Florida, Trayvon was staying at his dad’s girlfriend’s home in a complex where there were complaints about thefts in the neighborhood. Zimmerman, who was described as an aggressive neighborhood watch, was known for calling the dispatchers very often saw Trayvon in a hoodie and once again called dispatchers. He described Trayvon as suspicious and up to no good and was told to not follow Trayvon. Before Trayvon was killed he said to dispatchers, "These ***holes always gets away." Trayvon was then shot and killed by Zimmerman and he told authorities that he was attack from behind by Trayvon and that it was out of self-defense. Witness said that they heard cries for help and that they were coming from a boy and suddenly stopped to the sound of a gun. There was also recorded evidence of the moment during of Zimmerman confronting Trayvon while he was on the phone with his girlfriend. Trayvon was unarmed and only had an ice tea and skittles at the time he was killed. In court, Zimmerman was ruled not guilty under stand your ground laws. In this case Trayvon Martin not only experienced racism, but also racial profiling due to the fact he was black teen walking around in a hoodie. Racial profiling has name limit to age which but children and teens at risk to vigilante and police hostility. Another dead mistake of racial profiling was with Andy Lopez, a Mexican American teen shot by police under belief that he had a real gun but turned out that it was an airsoft gun. Officers in this case had a reason to be worried but were so quick to shoot on a young teen that barley had enough time to turn around before being shot. The officer in this situation could have given him a chance to see the situation and react. Even if the officers were quick to shoot, it should have been a shot to the leg but not seven times, in ten seconds. This is where it comes into question if there was something more to this becomes seven shots in ten seconds is a long period of time to spread out seven shots. The final account of racial profiling that led to punishment of the officers is the incident with Marlon Brown and Jonathan Ferrell. The difference between this account and the rest is that there was video evidence on the case. Marlon Brown was running on foot from the police during a chase. During the chase Marlon Brown trips well in front of the cop and instead of slowing down the cop continues on and runs him over and leaves the car on top of him showing no signs of helping. In another case, Jonathan Ferrell had just crashed his car and his friend was injured he attempted to get help so he went and banged on a door and entered the house. A woman in the home in fear called the police who later found Ferrell and ordered him to stop he continued to approach when he was tazed and then shot ten times when the taze didn’t work. In the case of Brown, the officers were chasing someone who had a history of criminal record which led to the aggressive pursuit but the need to run him over was not need at all. There are claims that the officer was moving too fast to apply the brakes the officer had time to stop and even if he did hit him, he could have done something to help. In Ferrell’s case he was trying to get help for his friend but was shot trying to help and was an innocent person trying to do the right thing. In both of these situations, it shows once again the indicator that police believe and unarmed colored person dangerous than an armed officer. The different views on the minorities and their capability by police have made them seem to be a dangerous foe to law enforcement. These accounts of over excessive force are what makes citizens live in fear of the police.
Around the country and the world, there are many reports and complaints about racial profiling. Although some may seem to be that way, it isn’t always the case. Sometimes the officers really do have reason to suspect that a person is committing a crime and it just so happens that the person is black or Mexican. It’s really hard to determine if a person is truly profiling people based on race and the only way you could ever know is if that person told you that they were like in the case of Officer Ron Davis. Although there may be evidence for it, its really hard to prove it. In that case though not everyone is innocent of it either. People can intentionally or unintentionally use racial profiling to stop and arrest people. It is more evident when you are in airports and security pulls away an Arabian, or if you’re in any southern parts of the states that border Mexico and Police ask for documentation. There are people that admit to using it and feel that it’s the right way to regulate society. People have their views on it and say it’s nonexistent but racial profiling is a very real thing.
There are different opinions on racial profiling other than mine. A student in one of Dr. Preston’s classes wrote on the topic of the shooting of Andy Lopez. The tone and detail of it alone make you stop and think wow, this child was shot do to racial profiling. There a holes in the essay though because when she called it a toy gun, she failed to mention that this toy gun was a replica of an AK-47, which is looked at upon police as a deadly gang related weapon. This case is left in controversy because you can see both view points and can relate to both sides of the argument. Take an officer stand point and eliminate the fact of race. You see someone walking down the street with something that looks like a real gun. Are you going to let this person walk away and find out later that that person you saw just killed people? Then there’s the question of how to react, are you going to shoot at this kid with what appears to be a gun right away, or will you give him a chance to explain and act? In the end though the real question becomes, how will race have affected this entire situation? They are only questions we can ask and we will all have our beliefs on what really happened that day. Then there is a case I have experienced myself and makes me wonder if I’ve experienced racial profiling first hand. During my junior year summer my friends and I had got stopped for messing around with illegal fireworks. I was actually only there watch so when we were stopped the officer began asking us questions. My friends told the officer I was only watching but after they said that, the officer began only asking me questions. He was asking me how they made the fireworks, how tall am I, do I have a license, and have I been in trouble before. It was odd because he didn’t ask my white friend any of those questions but he did to my Mexican friend too. The times I would say I don’t know he would become a little aggressive in his voice saying don’t lie to me it will only make things worse. When he asked me my house phone I told him that I didn’t have it memorized but it was on my phone and the officer became a little more uneasy with me. He then asked our parents if he could search our houses for anything else and he went to both my friends but mine because my dad told him no. The officers gave us a weird look before leaving and I had never thought of it much then. It was after the fact that I realized that the officer had not really said anything to our white friend even though he had admitted to doing all the stuff. Now on this topic, I wonder back on this day if I experienced racial profiling or he looked at me as friends covering up for a ring leader.
Racial profiling is not something made clear to meet the eye. There are people who shout claims of racial profiling and people who say it’s just a opinion because of who the officer stopped. I believe racial profiling is a very really thing in our world that is made not apparent for others to see. Police officers can easily avoid the situation by twisting there story around to make it seem as they had no choice. It is a very hard thing to prove but when it can be proved, it is an embarrassing moment for law enforcement like in the case of the gypsy family in Sweden. Other times it can be made obvious but there isn’t enough evidence to punish the officer for profiling against another race. Police should be the model of what is good in a community. The reputation however is falling among the minorities of our cities which leave these people living in fear instead of feeling protected.
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