Friday, August 26, 2005

Feds: Racial profiling occurs during searches at traffic stops








Tom Gaylor said...

While the federal statistics once again show a disparity in the way minorities are treated after a traffic stop, they stop short of hazarding a guess about why that might occur. This and other studies like this have continued to fuel the fire of racial tension between law enforcement and minority groups.

The plain and simple truth about these studies is that they have never and will never be able to explain the reason for the disparity and special interest groups rush to label police as racists.


In criminal statistics and prison populations minorities groups are drastically overrepresented so why should we be surprised that the numbers of minorities searched or arrested would be any different. This is not to say our criminal justice system is racist, but to point out that there may be a different reason, such as socioeconomics.

It is a well know fact that socioeconomics play a significant role in crime and motivators of crime. More crime (violent crime) occurs in lower socioeconomic areas. More crime is commmitted by those and against those who live in lower socioeconomic areas. It is an unfortunate truth, as well, that minorities are overrepsented in lower socioeconomic areas. These facts are not a function of law enforcement and are well beyond the control of law enforcement officers.

Law enforcement is purely reactive in nature. Police officers are assigned to areas because of high crime and calls for services. The formula is simple: more crime more officers. Police officers are trained to observe crime and react to it. More officers in high crime areas means more contacts with the residents of those areas and its not addition its multiplication. In other words more officers assigned to areas of high minority concentrations will result in a disproportionately large number of stops, arrests, and searches.

This does not give law enforcement cart blanch to stop and harrass minorities because of their disadvantaged socioeconomic status. But what we are saying is that it should not be a surprise to find a disportionate (as realted to their representation in the general population) number of minorities searched and arrested when you compile data after the fact.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Funny, Tom, I never knew you as a criminologist and sociologist, but as a police union lobbyist for the Texas Municipal Police Association.

The differences in arrest rates don't explain, as you know, why officers request consent to search more often for minorities than for whites under circumstances where they have no probable cause to search. That's not reactive, that decision is entirely within the officer's discretion, which is why its considered by many to be a useful measure of whether profiling is occurring.

Thanks for stopping by, Tom!

Anonymous said...

See - now, this ratio of stops and searches, this is why I always have a firearm in my vehicle. To make sure that I never get searched, I don't wear anything below my waist. That way, the officer can see immediately, without searching, that my weaponry is relatively insignificant.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...


In all my years on the internet, that may be the funniest thing I have ever read. Thanks for the laugh.