In 1968, the Supreme Court ruled that it’s not a violation of the 4th Amendment to detain and search a man for a weapon in absence of a search
warrant; so long as the officer acts upon a reasonable belief based upon objective factors that the man is armed and
dangerous.
The criminal justice community refers to such stop and frisk encounters as "Terry" stops. Over the years terry stops have been
used with increasing frequency to stop and investigate suspicious characters
Law enforcement agencies all over the country favor pre-textual stops and encounters with citizens as good proactive policing. The
practices are most often deployed through a casual traffic stop occasioned by a burned out taillight or some other minor vehicle code
violation.
On the face of it, Terry stops seem like good common sense practice.
But problems arose, when it was revealed that Terry stops were used primarily to detain and interrogate minorities. In late 1999, the New Jersey state police admitted to the stop and
detention of disproportionate numbers of black men.
Terry stops of minorities came to be known as racial profiling. Racial profiling refers to government activity directed at a suspect or
group of suspects because of their race, whether intentional or because of the disproportionate numbers of contacts based upon other pre-textual
reasons.
Racial profiling is controversial because race is controversial. Every minority stop and frisk encounter
always raises the question in the minority mind, “Why am I being stopped?”
"Recent studies at the University of Washington in Seattle found that people
hold unconscious biases, even when they believe they do not.
More than 4.5M people have taken the University's online test, which asks them to indicate
positive or negative feeings about pictures and words that appear on the computer screen.
Test takers are often shocked to learn that while they think they hold no biaes toward blacks,
multiculturalism or fat people, something different is going on in their heads. (Quoted from USA Today 12/12/07 page 11a)"
Ubiquitous prejudice runs deep and silent. Racial profiling creates doubt, confusion, and resentment because nobody
knows if an officer's pre-textual perceptions are biased.
So the question arises, How do we as a free and democratic society handle racial profiling.
This is a particularly thorny question in light of recent 9/11 attacks. Because, everybody knows that the criminals come exclusively, from the
ranks of militant Islam.
No subject is more controversial right now than racial or ethnic profiling. Paying special attention to passengers of Middle East descent can
get an airline in trouble. Pull more than two such passengers aside per flight for special scrutiny, and an airline risks a lawsuit.
But captured al Qaeda documents show that Arab men are probing for weaknesses in U.S.
security.
Los Angeles Times editor Michael Kinsley observed: "Today we're at war with a terror network that killed [3,000] innocents and has anonymous
agents in our country planning more slaughter. Are we really supposed to ignore the one identifiable fact we know about them?"
What good is subjecting Grandma to a wand search and even a pat-down search when all nineteen terrorists were men of Middle Eastern
descent between the ages of twenty and forty-five. A search of Grandma is likely to do nothing to thwart Muslim criminals.
Even worse, the time and effort spent patting down Grandma may be a waste of time that could be better used screening more likely
candidates.
It should be noted, that the Israeli airline El Al has a policy of singling out young Arabs for extensive search procedures. But in spite of
ongoing war in the middle east, it has not had a hijacking in over thirty years.
So, the question persists, How do we as a free and democratic society handle Terry stops, a.k.a., racial profiling, ethnic profiling?
First, we must be alert to the fact that racial profiling could become a weakness.
Terrorists could keep dark complexioned members in background roles, and lighter skinned people in visible roles to actually carry out the
terrorism. To further evade racial profiling, such a group could be heavily comprised of women.
The profiling markers of nationality, race and religion can be manipulated to render a false profile. We all recall the D.C. snipers who were
black. But the Profile indicated they would be white men.
Second, we’re just going to have to learn to trust one another. Terry stops a.k.a. racial
profiling, make sense, even when used by flawed human beings. The alternative is to make law enforcement too tentative to be
effective.
Still, we must be vigilant; lest law enforcement routinely abuse our trust.
Vigilance means holding people legally accountable. There's a unique service (recommended by television journalist Tony Brown)
offered as a rider to a standard Prepaid Legal membership that provides 24-hour access to an
attorney if you're ever detained or arrested.
Most law enforcement try to protect your rights rather than abuse them. However, any minority being stopped can politely indicate a desire to
immediately contact their attorney.
While not a guarantee of anything, contacting an attorney in the presence of law enforcement helps them and you consider, if the detention is
not only legal, but righteous.
minorities. In late 1999, the New Jersey state police admitted to the stop and
detention of disproportionate numbers of black men.
