No Easy Answer to Racial Profiling

There is little doubt in my mind that there is some level of racial profiling committed by some of the cops in this country. No one can know completely what goes on in the heads of the 800,000 full-time sworn police officers in the U.S., but it is a sure bet that there is some profiling going on.

However, I would wager that the numbers of officers actively profiling is a minuscule number compared to the whole. Just as there are doctors, lawyers, clergy, and teachers who stray from the acceptable, it would be incredulous to think that there are not some in the police profession as well.

And just as in those other professions, acts that hurt or demean others in any way are no more acceptable in professional policing. No argument can be made whatsoever for blatant race-based enforcement, meaning that police officers take actions based primarily on the race of the individual involved.

One of the problems, and there are many, is in how to define which actions constitute racial profiling and which are legitimate acts of law enforcement. More and more states are beginning to wrestle with this issue and some are mandating data collection to attempt see what is happening. The issue will then be how to analyze and interpret the raw data. In legitimate research, the researchers must be able to control for multiple variables so that the desired variables can be studied. In the world of humankind, there is no perfect solution for this. So even the best data will be subject to interpretive variants. There is no easy answer; however, there is so much to talk about to get to the racial healing that is so elusive.

The quickest way to stop racial profiling (but not necessarily the accusations) is for every police officer to assess his or her enforcement actions to be sure that they are based solely on behavior, and not on any other factor. Teachable moments abound, and police administrators better get busy and grab them.

Stupid is as Stupid Does

I am writing a second blog post today because of the President's comments about the Professor Gates incident in Cambridge. Following is my communication I sent to the White House today.

As a retired police chief I am dismayed and annoyed at the President's rush to judgment in the Gates arrest. Even after acknowledging he did not have all the facts, he stated the police "acted stupidly" in their actions. No one can know what police officers go through each day to be able to go home at night unless they have been on the job. One step outside of procedure can result in injury or death. Unless Sgt. Crowley personally knew Dr. Gates, his actions as stated so far, were by the book. Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that this pre-eminent scholar on all things racial, said as his first words when asked for ID, "Why, because I am a black man in America?"

It is not a stretch to think that a man who has spent his life studying racial bias and profiling would have this hypersensitivity (and perhaps a chip on this shoulder) about any interaction that could remotely be construed as racially biased. In other words, could he be looking for some scintilla of bias to jump on?

The President's words did nothing to advance the cause of less race-based police actions. So much as been done in the policing business to reduce any kind of racial profiling; not enough clearly, but now he has set our efforts back many, many years by his shots from the hip.

Although I am generally a Conservative I became a tepid Obama supporter about halfway through the campaign, and then increased my support as he rolled out his plans for America. My support and warm-fuzzy feelings took a huge hit when he made this intemperate comment. I hope he moves to heal the wounds with police officers across this country, beyond the platitudes about how hard their jobs are, and how they put their lives on the line each day, yada, yada. We all know that. He needs to apologize for his damning comment that reflects on all cops.

There is certainly racial profiling by cops occurring in America's cities. Chiefs everywhere are working to decrease these sometimes blatant actions. These Chiefs need help from the top and not crude responses. I will wait to see how it plays out to see if the President can admit he made a mistake, even if an investigation shows some racial bias occurred in the Gates incident. If that happens, he can resurrect his "stupid" comment if he likes and I would support it. But we are a long way from there today.