Finance and Law

Solutions to Racial Profiling: How to Prevent This Common Practice in Policing

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It’s a sobering statistic—Black Americans consist of 13&percnt; of our population&comma; but are killed by police at over <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;usatoday&period;com&sol;story&sol;news&sol;factcheck&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;23&sol;fact-check-how-many-unarmed-black-men-did-police-kill-2019&sol;5322455002&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">twice the rate<&sol;a> of white Americans&period; Racial profiling is a huge problem in American policing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">What is racial profiling&quest; This is the act of targeting a person or group based on the color of their skin and stereotypes&comma; rather than based on any specific actions that person has taken&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This means people&comma; often young men of color&comma; are pulled over by police&comma; arrested&comma; or detained&period; This is due to bias on behalf of the police officer&comma; rather than having done anything wrong&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">How can we stop this&quest; Unfortunately&comma; there are no simple solutions to racial profiling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Experts have yet to work out exactly what we can do to stop this from happening&period; However&comma; there are a number of theories&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">To learn more&comma; keep reading for a few ideas about how we can prevent racial profiling in policing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Education Is One of the Key Solutions to Racial Profiling<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When working to end racial profiling in policing&comma; one of the best strategies is education&period; One of the basic tenets of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;brianzeiger&period;com&sol;blog&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;16&sol;what-is-civil-rights-lawyer&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Civil Rights Law<&sol;a> is that all citizens have equal rights&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Therefore&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;benefits-calling-police-car-accident&sol;">police officers<&sol;a> need to understand how and why racial profiling is a violation of this&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">We can show either implicit or explicit bias against someone&comma; which is often an issue in policing&period; Implicit bias is a subconscious&comma; unintentional decision to arrest someone or pull them over&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">However&comma; an explicit decision is one that’s made intentionally&period; Through ongoing education&comma; offices can learn why biases exist and can learn coping strategies to learn how they can remove them from their police work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Education isn’t only for officers fresh out of the academy&period; All policemen and women should undergo regular education sessions&comma; so that they’re aware of best practice and new developments in the field&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Reduce Discretion When Making Traffic Stops<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">We frequently see racial profiling when making traffic stops&period; An officer might pull a driver over based on the color of their skin—if that driver was white&comma; would they have made the same decision&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Unfortunately&comma; police decisions are sometimes based on stereotypes&comma; with the mistaken belief that a driver of Black or Hispanic origin is more likely to be doing something illegal than other drivers&period; It’s often men&comma; especially young men&comma; that are targeted in traffic stop situations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Police have a lot of flexibility and discretion when it comes to deciding who they pull over&period; It is thought that by limiting the discretion of police&comma; this could put an end to a lot of racial profiling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">For example&comma; if officers had clear guidelines and when&comma; why&comma; and how they pull someone over &lpar;such as a list of actions a driver might do&rpar;&comma; this would reduce the choice of the officer in who they pull over&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Hire a Diverse Workforce<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Some experts think that hiring a more diverse workplace can help us work out how to end racial profiling&period; The theory is that&comma; the more people are exposed to people from diverse backgrounds&comma; the less explicit racism will be shown by that person&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If police departments are more diverse&comma; with staff from all sorts of backgrounds&comma; genders&comma; and ages&comma; employees learn more about different cultural groups&comma; fostering understanding and respect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">However&comma; this probably won’t be true for everyone&period; Unfortunately&comma; some people aren’t going to change their racist beliefs based on their colleagues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">That being said&comma; increasing diversity in the workplace is always a good place to start&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Improved Training Programs<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Can training sessions end racial profiling&quest; They can’t hurt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Organizing training days&comma; which include role-playing real-life examples of racial profiling&comma; and the impacts to the community from these decisions can be helpful&period; Role-plays of real-life situations can help police improve their decision-making skills and learn how to react fast to make smart decisions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Regular training sessions can be beneficial for bringing staff together and addressing serious topics&comma; such as racial profiling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Increased Consequences<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Generally&comma; it’s always better to teach with the carrot instead of the stick—that is&comma; encourage staff to make the right decision and praise them for doing so&comma; rather than focus on punishment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">However&comma; sometimes it can be helpful to remind staff of the consequences of racial profiling&period; Tragically&comma; cases of racial profiling often involve guns and end up with an innocent person being shot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This is often a young person&comma; with their life ahead of them&comma; who has now been taken away from their family and community&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">There are also harsh consequences for police officers found guilty of racial profiling&period; They are very likely to lose their jobs&comma; pensions&comma; and even face serious jail time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Officers in these situations also end up outcasts in their community&comma; losing relationships and friendships once their racist ways are exposed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Make sure staff are aware of the serious consequences they face if they are involved with racial profiling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Together&comma; We Can Work to End Racial Profiling<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As you can see&comma; this is a difficult and complicated topic&period; When it comes to solutions to racial profiling&comma; there isn’t one clear answer that we can put in place&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">However&comma; we can all work together to address the problem&period; Everyone&comma; whether you’re a police officer or not&comma; can think about how your daily choices in life impact racism and racial profiling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Try to always make the right choices&comma; support diversity&comma; and help to create a community where we respect and support one another&period; Although we have a long road ahead&comma; we can all do our part to help end racial profiling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Was this article helpful&quest; If so&comma; please keep reading to learn more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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