Police Department Demographics

This article entitled “Jim Crow Policing”, written by Bob Herbert, is an opinionated article which aims to shed light on the alleged racist and xenophobic behaviors of the New York Police Department. The article was published on February 1st, 2010, almost 7 years ago, which is important to note because of the changing environment that New York is as a whole. Herbert takes a stance against the NYPD, claiming that the officers of the department have “no obligation to treat them (blacks, hispanics, other minorities) fairly or with any respect…” He also states in his opening paragraph that some of the officers that are partaking in the harassment are minorities themselves, and he calls that

Demographics provide the specifics necessary to obtain knowledge pertaining to a city’s inhabitants. Attaining this type of detailed information is vital to the creation of a flourishing municipality. Demographic data can offer crucial material in relation to the particulars, such as the districts residents reside, the districts most preferred, the areas more highly safeguarded, high crime areas, the elementary schools most preferred and what type of developments residents want to see within the area. Verification is made by evaluating the demographic attributes of the populace, areas of

Furthermore, after the incident of September 11th, 2001, people of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian background have been profiled by airline personnel, the local police, and federal law enforcement. Also, ever since the dawn of the war on drugs in the 1980’s, the police have been targeting mostly the black and Latino drivers for drugs. The police do racial profiling as to lower the acts of crime, but what they do not realize is that crime is not always done by specific racial groups. As for the targeting only the black and Latinos for drugs, many studies at traffic stops have shown that white drivers were most likely to possess drugs rather than their African American and Hispanic counterparts. Similarly, in the New York City, the Latinos and Blacks are the victims of stop-and-frisks. While the New York City authorities say that it helps lower crimes, New York Civil Liberties Union have shown that whites have been found in the possession of more weapons than their Hispanic and/or African American counterparts. All these above-mentioned examples prove Alexander’s idea of racism persists.

communities in order to achieve goals and avoid conflicts. Racism, discrimination, and miscommunication have been the cause of countless police/immigrant community confrontations, and that in return diminishes the chances of recruiting Asian-American candidates towards a career in law enforcement.

Without the media and technology we would not know about all of the racial profiling cases that has happened and will happen. In “Fact Sheet: Racial Profiling” by The Department Of Justice says, “since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the president has emphasized that federal law enforcement personnel must use every legitimate tool to prevent future attacks…”(5). In post 9/11 racial profiling towards certain groups has expanded in a negative way. The media has destroyed the Islamic religion calling it evil because of terrorist action. Islam is currently blended with the word terrorism and especially with ISIS today. There have been various situations where authorities had suspected a random terrorist activity by getting the wrong individual. For example, the Diallo case of 1999 where the Cops shot a random man who was an immigrant because they thought he fit the description of another colored rapist in the area. Despite the fact that racial profiling can be useful in specific cases it is not accurate most of the time. Racial Profiling is practically a glaring stereotype. The media will always use it to prove their

Racial Profiling is unconstitutional and illegal, yet it’s still used in law enforcement. The practice of racial profiling, as defined by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), refers to the “discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin”(ACLU 2005). Racial profiling causes more harm than good, it can cause emotional, mental and more often physical harm to the person being subjected to the practice. According to the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments, racial profiling is unconstitutional. It causes distrust in law enforcement because ethnic

In relation to the debate of ‘racial profiling,’ Taylor and Whitney define racial profiling as “the practice of questioning blacks in disproportionate numbers in expectation that they are more likely than people of other races to be criminals” (Taylor & Whitney, 2002). Statistics show that African-Americans and Hispanics commit more crime than Caucasians, with 90% of the 1.7 million interracial crimes stemming from the hands of African-American men. Even looking at these numbers, does that make it okay for the police to arrest and interrogate these racial minorities at such a high frequency? Where are these statistics coming from? How accurate are they? Does the media provide a skewed analysis of these findings? These are the types of questions that need to be addressed in regard to evaluating the validity of racial profiling.

One of the most imminent threats looming within American society is race relations. America is a melting pot of different races, cultures, and religions, yet the matter of racial profiling still remains prominent today. By definition it is considered “an activity carried out by enforcers of the law wherein they investigate or stop any individual in traffic or round up people of the same race or ethnicity for crime suspicion” (NYLN.org ). This profiling has become a significant catalyst in the tension that has been ensuing between minorities and the government. Hostility has grown due to the apparent and intentional targeting of “brown people”, and

Racial profiling has become one of the most problematic practices in police departments. According to Bier, there are more than 900,000 officers in the U.S. In this country alone, there have been numerous incidents where people have been arrested and detained because of their ethnicity. A satisfactory example is an incident that happened right after

This paper discusses the establishment of terrorism as a crime that can be committed domestically has changed policing, how and why it has changed policing, along with examples. Next, this paper explores whether or not the number of victims of racial profiling has increased over the last decade. This paper also discusses the laws and services which are available for victims of racial profiling. What other actions might be taken on behalf of victims of racial profiling will also be explored in this paper. Lastly, has the Department of Homeland Security helped fight terrorism, or has it simply duplicated the efforts and jurisdictions of other agencies and how has it helped, will be discussed in this paper.

The National Institute of Justice (“Racial Profiling”) stated that racial profiling, which is a form of discrimination, racism, and stereotypes is when law enforcement, based on a person’s race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion targets a person for suspicion of crimes. Today people can turn on their television, go online, and even listen to their radios and they will hear about racial profiling. Racial profiling is not anything new and has been going on throughout history; it goes all the way back to slavery. Racial profiling has recently started being recorded, which is why it has become such a huge national issue today, because people can no longer ignore it. This issue is not specific to one race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin. People of many races, religions, ethnicities, or national origins have been affected by racial profiling for years since the start of this country, but one group that has been affected by racial profiling at a high rate is African Americans. The goal of this paper is to analyze this main group that has and still is being affected by racial profiling and acknowledge other groups that are being affected as well.

Newman, Deborah Wilkins, and Nikki-Qui D. Brown. "Historical Overview and Perceptions of Racial and Terrorist Profiling in an Era of Homeland Security: A Research Note." Criminal Justice Policy Review. SAGE, 3 Dec. 2009, http://cjp.sagepub.com/content/20/3/359.full.pdf .

The history of social equity as it applies to homeland security efforts represents an implicit acceptance of the profiling of people in the name of counterterrorism. When Mayor Fiorello La Guardia of New York City wrote a letter to President Roosevelt stating: “There is a need for a strong Federal Department to coordinate activities, and not only to coordinate but to initiate and get things going. Please bear in mind that up to this war and never in our history, has the civilian population been exposed to attack. The new technique of war has created the necessity for developing new techniques of civilian defense,” President Roosevelt responded to the increasing concern of the public and local officials by creating the Office of Civilian Defense

Racial profiling remains a dormant issue in the United States. It is the act of the authority, mostly, police officers linking minority status to criminal behaviour (Glover, 2007). Several police officers in the United States target specific groups because they don’t display characteristics of typical Caucasian individuals (Glover, 2007). To put history into context, before 9/11, not many police officers profiled individuals based on their ethnic backgrounds but after the attack, there was an increase in racial profiling (Harris, 2006). A racial profiling method that became prevalent in the 1980s in the United States was administered by the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration. Operation Pipeline was a program that they launched to help police officers catch drug traffickers (Harris, 2006). In a video, they taught police officers to look for clues that would help them recognize criminals. It was noticed that police officers made a majority of stops to people with Hispanic last names (Harris, 2006). Marshall Frank, a former police officer was asked what police officers should do if they saw an African man driving around a white community. Frank responded by stating that the police officers should stop the vehicle and investigate the reason to why he was there even if there was no occurrence of a crime (Harris, 2006).

In recent years, recruitment and retention of police officers has been a pain point for many departments across the nation. Odd and inflexible hours, uncompetitive pay, para-militaristic organizational structures, and a negative public perception have all worked to diminish the pool of applicants interested in careers in law enforcement. Add to the mix the sexist “brotherhood” police culture, emphasis on masculinity and aggression, and the nearly non-existent opportunities for advancement for women, and over half of the eligible workforce has been discouraged from even considering a career in law enforcement. In 2013, women comprised just over 57% of the labor force, but accounted for only 13% of sworn police officers (USDOL, 2013; Crooke, 2013). Not only are women sorely underrepresented in the field of law enforcement, but those who are employed experience discrimination at the hands of their supervisors and coworkers, and as a result, the attrition rate for women is often much higher than that of their male counterparts. Departments should pledge dedication to recruiting and retaining more female officers, as research indicates that not only do females perform just as well as males in patrol positions, but they also have a unique set of advantages to offer agencies when employed in law enforcement. In order to improve the recruitment and retention of females into policing roles, departments must determine the biggest deterrents for women who are considering the pursuit