Race Culture and Public Safety

Race, Culture and Public Safety

How have this week's readings challenged your own beliefs about race and culture and its relevance to the construction of public safety in America? What had a particular impact on your ideas about emerging safety issues? These can be negative as well as positive comments. Also, consider ethnicity.

Police officers often find themselves torn between two competing needs. On one hand, they must serve the laws of the land and obey the U.S. Constitution. This means that they cannot conduct illegal searches and seizures based upon an individual's nation of origin or race. On the other hand, profiling is endemic to the profession of law enforcement. Anecdotally, there is a great deal of evidence that police officers are only human and are subject to the same racial prejudices as other Americans. Of course, part of the duty of an officer is to rise above these gut feelings. But there is an institutionalized acceptance of profiling within law enforcement, based upon suspect profiles.

At the most basic level, a complete description of a suspect requires a racial identification. The FBI and other law enforcement offices may engage in psychological profiling of suspects that involves racial categorization, when confronted with a crime with few leads. The idea that, based upon statistical evidence, that most serial killers are male and Caucasian is a 'profile' just as much as a terrorist action perpetuated by a member of Al Qaida is statistically more likely to be perpetrated by an individual of a particular ethnic extraction.

However, there are many arguments against the use of racial profiling. First and foremost, it is necessary to have community participation in policing efforts. Members of historically-discriminated against groups living in high crime areas will be less likely to participate in neighborhood watches, for example, if there is a sense that they may be stopped simply for a 'DWB' -- 'Driving While Black' offense. Evidence that is gathered illegally not based upon good faith but upon prejudice is likely to be thrown out of court and will bring shame and dishonor upon the reputation of the officer and his or her entire unit.

Yet doing away with the category of 'race' in terms of tracking crime seems impossible, too. For example, to infiltrate a terrorist group, often a member of law enforcement with ethnic origins from that community will be selected for undercover work, because of the officer's appearance, ability to speak the language, and knowledge of the culture. Certain gangs identify themselves by ethnic ties, terrorist crimes may be racially or religiously motivated, and law enforcement officers must understand this to be able to protect the safety of all citizens, not simply Caucasians, but also members of minority groups.

It is not good policing to assume that solely because a person is a member of a historically-discriminated against group, he or she is a likely perpetrator. It is ineffective as well as unjust (and creating a more just world is another of the obligations of law enforcement), given that for every person who is a criminal there are many, many more individuals who are law- abiding members of that particular group. Racial and ethnic considerations can never be the only 'tip off' when trying to identify a suspect. Evaluating such characteristics must be done in a manner that is not prejudiced, even if policing is not race-blind.