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Profiling
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When you become a police officer, you'll be profiling people,
circumstances and geography all the time. When you take the physical
description of a suspect from a victim, you'll be profiling that suspect.
If you do a good job at getting a complete and usable description, you'll
be able to profile that suspect against suspects in other similar crimes
occurring within a geographical area.
You might ask, "If it's that simple, what's all the screaming about
profiling?" First, profiling does get more complicated, and I've provided
an excellent resource link:
circumstances and geography all the time. When you take the physical
description of a suspect from a victim, you'll be profiling that suspect.
If you do a good job at getting a complete and usable description, you'll
be able to profile that suspect against suspects in other similar crimes
occurring within a geographical area.
You might ask, "If it's that simple, what's all the screaming about
profiling?" First, profiling does get more complicated, and I've provided
an excellent resource link:
Again...it's all about politics. If you ask ten people today to describe
profiling in the context of police, the first word out of nine of those
persons' mouths will be, "Racial."
Profiling has become an almost exclusively black and white issue. I say
that in the literal sense, because, to a lot of people, it's all about race and
nothing else. During my 20 years as a patrol officer, I never had to
worry about being accused of racial profiling, because all the
neighborhoods I patrolled were exclusively African American.
The term, racial profiling, infers that race is the only thing being
considered when you decide to take some kind of action. In that
context, I would contend that racial profiling certainly does exist...at
least initially. When ever I observed white people in my areas of patrol
doing anything other than driving through on a main traffic artery, they
certainly attracted my attention. Of course, following the initial
observation, other circumstances would come into play such as time of
day, particular location, the person's age, sex, and activity.
Let's look at a couple of examples:
1st Example: You're patrolling your post/beat when you turn a corner,
and you see a car parked at the curb with two occupants...driver and
passenger. The car is parked legally, and the only thing that attracts
your attention is the race of the occupants...both are young white men.
Here are the circumstances. It's 10 o'clock PM on a weeknight; the
location is in a high drug distribution area as evidenced by the number
of drug arrests and acts of violence associated with the drug trade. The
neighborhood is all black, and, to your knowledge, there's not a white
residence within twenty blocks in any direction.
What would you do, if anything? Well, let's look a little bit closer. You
also notice a decal on the back window of the well kept late model car.
It's a decal for a prestigious university in your city. This tells you that
the two men may be students from that university. As you continue
your observation, you notice the two men are frequently turning their
heads toward an alley entrance just behind them. You're soon
convinced that the two men are waiting for someone, so you decide to
continue your observations.
After just a few minutes, you see a white male emerge from the alley
and walk toward the car. The passenger gets out of the two door car and
pulls the back of the front passenger seat forward to allow the third man
to get into the back seat. However, before the third man enters the car,
the two pause for conversation. Both men are looking downward as they
talk. It's clear to you that the third man is holding something in his
hand that's he's showing to the front seat passenger.
It gets better. As the two men enter the car after their brief
conversation, you observe a black male emerge from the same alley.
The black male turns in your direction. He only takes a few steps when
he spots you and makes an abrupt about face. He walks back to the
alley where he takes off like a sprinter out of the starting blocks down
the alley. You recognize the black male as a previously arrested drug
dealer from the area.
Of course, the three white guys are totally oblivious to what's going on
around them as the three, now inside the car, pull away from the curb.
At this point, you're assuming the three white men probably are college
students as evidenced by their stupid behavior and their inattention to
their surroundings. Oops, that statement could cause an accusation of
educational profiling. Anyway, it's time to put the screws to these guys.
By the time they reach the first intersection, you're sitting right behind
them at the red light. You could turn on your emergency lights right
there and pull them over, but let's observe a bit more. The light
changes, and you follow behind them. You notice the driver looking in
his rear view mirror followed by the back seat passenger looking back
directly at you. You can see the two in front turn there heads to the
side and they're talking. They're obviously telling the guy in the back
seat to stop looking at you as he snaps his head forward.
They're doing their best at staying cool, but this won't last long. The
inevitable turn is coming up, and when you turn with them, you'll see
the panic set in. They turn...you turn...and panic they do. These guys
are jumping all over the place. The guy in the back seat can't resist
looking back at you, and the expression on his face is pure terror.
It's time to begin their worst nightmare as you activate your emergency
lights. The end to this story comes moments later when your flashlight
hits a single gel cap of suspected cocaine that the back seat passenger
failed to get stuffed behind the back seat. A subsequent search will
reveal the other five he purchased from the drug dealer.
Okay...was this racial profiling? Race was the single factor that
initiated your observations. Had that car been occupied by two black
males, that observation alone would not have caused you to make any
further observations. You would have continued on your way.
2d Example: What if the same car, this time occupied by two black
males, was setting, at the same hour, in an all white, affluent residential
neighborhood? In the first place, there are few exclusively all white
neighborhoods, so the mere presence of the two black males would not
be unusual. The former described circumstances are not present. The
neighborhood is not crime ridden, and any local drug dealing is not going
to be done out of allies.
What about the university decal. In the first example, the decal only
made you suspect that the white men, who were obviously there to buy
drugs, happened to be college students. This time, the decal again infers
that the black men may be college students. You observe no
circumstances that would cause you to make any further observations,
and you continue on your way.
About thirty minutes later, you're directed to an address to take a
stolen auto report. You realize that the address is on the same street
where you earlier observed the two black males. Upon speaking with
the complainant, you quickly recognize the description of the stolen
car...decal and all. Hey...that's just how it goes.
Let's add some circumstances. This white, affluent residential
neighborhood has been experiencing a rash of stolen autos over a two
week period. While there's no description of a suspect(s), all five of the
previous stolen cars were recovered; after, they'd been abandoned in an
all black residential neighborhood. All of the cars were the same make
and model, and all had the ignitions popped.
This time, you observe two black males sitting in the car. Only, this
time, they're sitting in a car of the same make and model of those
recently stolen. You're also aware of where the stolen autos were
recovered. You'd be negligent not to investigate further. A couple of
different things could happen. You could quickly learn that the men are
not in the business of stealing cars, or you could find yourself standing
in the street with the smell of burnt rubber in your nostrils.
Here's the sad thing about the racial profiling enthusiasts. They
couldn't care less about how much probable cause you may have when
you investigate a black person outside a predominantly black
neighborhood. In the example I just described, you could easily be
accused of racial profiling...even if these men turned out to be the car
thieves.
Probable cause or reasonable suspicion...that's what it's all about. There
will be plenty of times when your attention will be drawn to a person due
to that person's race coupled with other circumstances that may, or may
not, be suspicious. The single most important thing for you to
remember is that race, and race alone, is never enough to support
probable cause or reasonable suspicion.
I used the example of the white men buying drugs, because it's
something you may well see more than a few times if you end up
working in an all black neighborhood that's rife with drugs. As soon as
you spotted them under the prevailing circumstances, you knew what
they were up to. But...you made the proper observations to support,
with probable cause, what you happened to already know.
Here's the irony. If you'd immediately accosted the two white men
simply on the mere basis of race and location, racial profiling would be a
good description of your action. The same goes for the two black men as
to merely race and location. The only difference is that the former
doesn't count as racial profiling and the latter does.
profiling in the context of police, the first word out of nine of those
persons' mouths will be, "Racial."
Profiling has become an almost exclusively black and white issue. I say
that in the literal sense, because, to a lot of people, it's all about race and
nothing else. During my 20 years as a patrol officer, I never had to
worry about being accused of racial profiling, because all the
neighborhoods I patrolled were exclusively African American.
The term, racial profiling, infers that race is the only thing being
considered when you decide to take some kind of action. In that
context, I would contend that racial profiling certainly does exist...at
least initially. When ever I observed white people in my areas of patrol
doing anything other than driving through on a main traffic artery, they
certainly attracted my attention. Of course, following the initial
observation, other circumstances would come into play such as time of
day, particular location, the person's age, sex, and activity.
Let's look at a couple of examples:
1st Example: You're patrolling your post/beat when you turn a corner,
and you see a car parked at the curb with two occupants...driver and
passenger. The car is parked legally, and the only thing that attracts
your attention is the race of the occupants...both are young white men.
Here are the circumstances. It's 10 o'clock PM on a weeknight; the
location is in a high drug distribution area as evidenced by the number
of drug arrests and acts of violence associated with the drug trade. The
neighborhood is all black, and, to your knowledge, there's not a white
residence within twenty blocks in any direction.
What would you do, if anything? Well, let's look a little bit closer. You
also notice a decal on the back window of the well kept late model car.
It's a decal for a prestigious university in your city. This tells you that
the two men may be students from that university. As you continue
your observation, you notice the two men are frequently turning their
heads toward an alley entrance just behind them. You're soon
convinced that the two men are waiting for someone, so you decide to
continue your observations.
After just a few minutes, you see a white male emerge from the alley
and walk toward the car. The passenger gets out of the two door car and
pulls the back of the front passenger seat forward to allow the third man
to get into the back seat. However, before the third man enters the car,
the two pause for conversation. Both men are looking downward as they
talk. It's clear to you that the third man is holding something in his
hand that's he's showing to the front seat passenger.
It gets better. As the two men enter the car after their brief
conversation, you observe a black male emerge from the same alley.
The black male turns in your direction. He only takes a few steps when
he spots you and makes an abrupt about face. He walks back to the
alley where he takes off like a sprinter out of the starting blocks down
the alley. You recognize the black male as a previously arrested drug
dealer from the area.
Of course, the three white guys are totally oblivious to what's going on
around them as the three, now inside the car, pull away from the curb.
At this point, you're assuming the three white men probably are college
students as evidenced by their stupid behavior and their inattention to
their surroundings. Oops, that statement could cause an accusation of
educational profiling. Anyway, it's time to put the screws to these guys.
By the time they reach the first intersection, you're sitting right behind
them at the red light. You could turn on your emergency lights right
there and pull them over, but let's observe a bit more. The light
changes, and you follow behind them. You notice the driver looking in
his rear view mirror followed by the back seat passenger looking back
directly at you. You can see the two in front turn there heads to the
side and they're talking. They're obviously telling the guy in the back
seat to stop looking at you as he snaps his head forward.
They're doing their best at staying cool, but this won't last long. The
inevitable turn is coming up, and when you turn with them, you'll see
the panic set in. They turn...you turn...and panic they do. These guys
are jumping all over the place. The guy in the back seat can't resist
looking back at you, and the expression on his face is pure terror.
It's time to begin their worst nightmare as you activate your emergency
lights. The end to this story comes moments later when your flashlight
hits a single gel cap of suspected cocaine that the back seat passenger
failed to get stuffed behind the back seat. A subsequent search will
reveal the other five he purchased from the drug dealer.
Okay...was this racial profiling? Race was the single factor that
initiated your observations. Had that car been occupied by two black
males, that observation alone would not have caused you to make any
further observations. You would have continued on your way.
2d Example: What if the same car, this time occupied by two black
males, was setting, at the same hour, in an all white, affluent residential
neighborhood? In the first place, there are few exclusively all white
neighborhoods, so the mere presence of the two black males would not
be unusual. The former described circumstances are not present. The
neighborhood is not crime ridden, and any local drug dealing is not going
to be done out of allies.
What about the university decal. In the first example, the decal only
made you suspect that the white men, who were obviously there to buy
drugs, happened to be college students. This time, the decal again infers
that the black men may be college students. You observe no
circumstances that would cause you to make any further observations,
and you continue on your way.
About thirty minutes later, you're directed to an address to take a
stolen auto report. You realize that the address is on the same street
where you earlier observed the two black males. Upon speaking with
the complainant, you quickly recognize the description of the stolen
car...decal and all. Hey...that's just how it goes.
Let's add some circumstances. This white, affluent residential
neighborhood has been experiencing a rash of stolen autos over a two
week period. While there's no description of a suspect(s), all five of the
previous stolen cars were recovered; after, they'd been abandoned in an
all black residential neighborhood. All of the cars were the same make
and model, and all had the ignitions popped.
This time, you observe two black males sitting in the car. Only, this
time, they're sitting in a car of the same make and model of those
recently stolen. You're also aware of where the stolen autos were
recovered. You'd be negligent not to investigate further. A couple of
different things could happen. You could quickly learn that the men are
not in the business of stealing cars, or you could find yourself standing
in the street with the smell of burnt rubber in your nostrils.
Here's the sad thing about the racial profiling enthusiasts. They
couldn't care less about how much probable cause you may have when
you investigate a black person outside a predominantly black
neighborhood. In the example I just described, you could easily be
accused of racial profiling...even if these men turned out to be the car
thieves.
Probable cause or reasonable suspicion...that's what it's all about. There
will be plenty of times when your attention will be drawn to a person due
to that person's race coupled with other circumstances that may, or may
not, be suspicious. The single most important thing for you to
remember is that race, and race alone, is never enough to support
probable cause or reasonable suspicion.
I used the example of the white men buying drugs, because it's
something you may well see more than a few times if you end up
working in an all black neighborhood that's rife with drugs. As soon as
you spotted them under the prevailing circumstances, you knew what
they were up to. But...you made the proper observations to support,
with probable cause, what you happened to already know.
Here's the irony. If you'd immediately accosted the two white men
simply on the mere basis of race and location, racial profiling would be a
good description of your action. The same goes for the two black men as
to merely race and location. The only difference is that the former
doesn't count as racial profiling and the latter does.
Peter C. Moskos is a professor of Law and Police Science
at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. His
research specializes in police culture, police patrol and crime
prevention, drug violence, community policing and terrorism,
police/minority relations, and qualitative methods.
at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. His
research specializes in police culture, police patrol and crime
prevention, drug violence, community policing and terrorism,
police/minority relations, and qualitative methods.
Peter worked as a Baltimore City police officer from 1999 to 2001, patrolling
midnight shift in Baltimore’s high-crime Eastern District. Peter left the police
force to return to his graduate studies at Harvard.
midnight shift in Baltimore’s high-crime Eastern District. Peter left the police
force to return to his graduate studies at Harvard.
| Read Police Author Peter C. Moskos' article on this site: Driving While Black |