The F.B.I. does racial profiling, but do local police?

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primalclaws1974

Well-Known Member
In this day and age most don't admit to seeing people based on their ethnicity, race or skin color, but it is of course a factor. The F.B.I. uses it, even though it is controversial. My question is to detectives, chiefs or even beat cops. Are there racial aspects figured into chasing down a perpetrator?
 
I don't think there is any way to totally eliminate racial profiling. There are many other forms of profiling as well, like what kind of car, how one dresses ect. To some degree I think they all use it simply because they kind of have to to do the job. Where it is inappropriate is pulling someone over just because of their race, not because they commit a violation.
 
Everyone not just cops is guilty of doing of some profiling at some point in their life.

Fact is we're more likely to trust what statistics show rather than face every situation with no pre-conceived prejudices. For example, we assume that a well-dressed person can't be a shop lifter but is that the the truth? No.

I believe that whether they [cops] admit it or not, racial profiling is not a thing of the past and won't be for a really long time.
 
I don't think that the police has the people to do this, but I feel that it would be a great help to catch some criminals.
 
I wouldn't think of individual profiling as something racial but instead as a systematic way of identifying and categorizing known felons in their database. Knowing their race, ethnicity, skin color, native language or even the perfumes they wear are all important in criminal investigation so actually it's a big help and would save a lot of time if cops knew who were they looking for in the first place.
 
I understand that we are a diverse group, and humans, just like any species are going to be close to others like them. Is a school of fish mixed? No, it is all one kind of fish. Just because you are comfortable with people like you, doesn't make you racist. People usually live together too. Unfortunately when it comes to racial profiling this may lead you to a neighborhood that is only one race, such as African-Americans, and it may give them the feeling the police are the racists.
 
I believe that most people subconsciously are guilty of profiling, be it racial or not. Where problems start coming in is if such profiling makes its way into the system, where certain races are subject to "random" security checks much more often.
 
Is this even a question? Of course the local cops profile. They even have charts to show the percentage of different races in different communities. Safety is then measured based on this and other statistics. I think that's the main reason you hear about certain types or arrests only taking place in certain type of areas.
 
Even if there aren't explicit instructions on profiling, I'm convinced that implicitly there will be profiling going on. It's the nature of the society with live in. Stereotyping and judging helps people to cut corners, regardless of the rights and wrongs of it all.
 
Onionman said:
Even if there aren't explicit instructions on profiling, I'm convinced that implicitly there will be profiling going on. It's the nature of the society with live in. Stereotyping and judging helps people to cut corners, regardless of the rights and wrongs of it all.
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I will agree that stereotyping would definitely be happening. If a cop experienced at dealing with gangs of African-Americans (just for example) sees a carful of black kids, he's going to think it's gang members. This doesn't necessarily equate to judging or racism. Is he guilty of anything? Maybe a little, but he has to be suspicious, it's a part of his job.
 
Every law enforcement agency in the world uses racial profiling and it would be hard not too. When you first see a person your brain is immediately going to tell you okay this is a white man, black man, Hispanic man. Does it always work? Is it always "fair"? No, but it is part of the job.
 
I know my town is predominately a Caucasian area and unfortunately if you are not Caucasian, you are targeted. I think here though, its not so much the police doing the profiling as it is the general public calling in complaints against non Caucasians for stupid stuff... I was in a store once and the owner phoned 911 and said there was a black man outside her shop threatening her and they needed to come quick. There was a man outside her shop who happened to be African american but he wasn't threatening her. He stepped outside from the bar and grill next door to have a smoke. The police came and asked questions, as is there job, but the profiling was done by the store owner. Not the police. It was ridiculous and I felt terrible for the guy. Thankfully, the cops talked to him and witnesses and he was just fine. I seriously wanted to deck the woman though!
 
Around here we make the joke, be careful, you might get pulled over for d.w.b?! A DWB?? Yea, Driving while black. It never fails that when you seem someone pulled over, it's almost always a black person. I saw a white lady pulled over the other day and almost drove around the block again to make sure I wasn't seeing things.
 
People are quick to say they got interrogated by the police because they were black. I don't buy that for the most part. If it is a rough neighborhood or if they know you and your friends have a record of illegal activity, you are going to be watched more carefully than someone else. If they are looking at a group of black people closely, it is not because they are black, but a carful of people is always going to draw the attention of the police. Their cop is to watch people, and take action when necessary.
 
primalclaws1974 said:
In this day and age most don't admit to seeing people based on their ethnicity, race or skin color, but it is of course a factor. The F.B.I. uses it, even though it is controversial. My question is to detectives, chiefs or even beat cops. Are there racial aspects figured into chasing down a perpetrator?
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I cannot see just the F.B.I doing the profiling police have also racially profiled. I mean it is a constant issue with profiling with suspects, in general. Especially, with the civil rights movement seeing them profile African Americans and beat them. It is something that sits with lots of minority groups, but then again the police have to give out a description about the suspect to make it easier to find them.
 
They've done it in the past and a lot of them probably still do it to this day. Years ago in my town the police actually went around arresting all African American men in town for fake accusations just because they were black. Disgusting.
 
Simple answer? Yes. Absolutely. However, I don't think that's the only form of profiling they do. If you happen to be wearing certain apparel or in a certain neighbourhood at a certain time they do the same thing.
 
They do all sorts of profiling. Racial, class based, even based on sexual preference. Now I'm not saying all departments and officers do this, as that is far from the truth. But it does exist without a doubt.
 
Yes. Police officers do that sort of racial profiling too. I don't really understand, just because he's white doesn't mean he's also like this white person, and just because he's black doesn't mean he's also the same as this black person. Why do people tend to stereotype everything? This has always been the question for me.
 
In all investigations there is criminal profiling, not only race, status (single), the type of work they do, build and psych profile. It's all inter-related and you don't do one without the other. I did a criminal profiling course and it outlines how they profile and how accurate they are.
 
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