Introduction
Although the presence of a rotten potato in one bag brings the suspicion of the potential destruction of the entire bag, it is also true that removal of the potato early enough renders the rest of the potatoes useful. Just like the potato scenario, racial profiling is based on the assumption that the existence of a large number of lawbreakers in a particular race, ethnicity, or religion renders the entire group suspicious (Carmen, 107). This biased approach to law enforcement promotes the violation of the fourteenth amendment as it denies citizens equal protection by the law. Additionally, it distracts law enforcement agencies by focusing their attention on race rather than suspicious behavior. This leads to potential racial-based violence and citizen-police confrontations. On the contrary, however, people campaigning for racial profiling have argued that it increases the probability of catching criminals. These claims are, however, inconsiderate of the effects on the vulnerable groups as well as its impact on the distraction of law enforcement. In this regard, this paper seeks to prove the thesis that racial profiling is more harmful than beneficial to society.
Limiting Police Services to the Community
Racial profiling limits the extent to which the police can serve the community. Generally, the role of law enforcement agencies is to protect the law-abiding citizens from criminals. When racial profiling is effected, however, the police send an indirect message to the vulnerable societies (e.g., the blacks and the Latinos) informing them that they are criminals. These societies then gain a negative attitude towards the police as they start perceiving them as more of enemies than friends. Unlike in the cases of community policing, racial profiling pushes people away from the police. With increased suspicion and a feeling of vulnerability, the relationship between the police and the people is destroyed. For this reason, people from the affected communities will tend to stay away from law enforcement operations to avoid being branded as criminals. The result is low reporting of criminal activities and little or no availability of crime witnesses. In a report given by the Missouri attorney general on the ineffectiveness of racial profiling, for example, it was noted that the concentration on the regions dominated by black Americans had led to an increase in crime by the whites. According to the report, the blacks comprised only 19% of criminals associated with drugs and illegal goods while the number of Caucasian Americans had shot from 15% to 24% (Head, Para 4). This implies that the process interferes with crime investigation processes and hence the level of crime increases instead of decreasing. As expected, it is almost impossible to have law enforcement become effective in a region where there exists no trust or rapport between the residents and the police.
Promoting Racially Motivated Violence
Racial profiling promotes racially motivated violence. Racial profiling encourages the use of lower standards of evidence for vulnerable societies. Considering that such evidence is inadmissible to the unsuspecting communities, an element of discrimination chips in. Policies encouraging racial profiling also encourage the police, armed citizens, and private security to respond violently to the vulnerable societies. In most cases, a self-defense concern is raised even when the victim is unarmed. Such actions, however, spark a feeling of vengeance amongst citizens from the affected groups. They may not only engage in violent attacks on the police but can also initiate racially related behaviors. In the recent past, such cases have been common in the United States where the lives of black Americans were taken simply because they looked suspicious (yet there wasn't any evidence to prove the allegations). In July 2016, for example, video footage was released by a convenience store showing police shooting a black American named Alton Sterling five times in the chest despite having multiple pleas to hold fire. The event led to mass protests by the black American community, leading the Department of Defense to call for a further investigation (Edmonds, para 5). This case is no different from that of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed black American who died in a hail of 41 bullets shot by an NYPD officer while trying to show his driving license.
The Importance of Racial Profiling
On the positive side, however, racial profiling has been noted to be essential in determining the criminality of an individual. A report on the 9/11 incident, for example, proved that Arabs are most associated with terrorist attacks. Since then, racial profiling has proved useful in reducing the number of potential terrorists within the borders of the United States. Regarding Hispanics and blacks, statistics have shown that the two communities are the most involved in crime-related activities. With racial profiling in place, more people from the black and Hispanic communities have continuously faced unexpected arrests with some of them being described as showing "the most innocent faces" before incriminating evidence was obtained from them (Mannes, para 3).
Conclusion
As evident from the discussion above, the harm of racial profiling outweighs its benefits. Although it has been crucial in keeping the threat away from the United States, it has equally supported unequal treatment of United States citizens. Additionally, it has also disrupted police efforts targeted at eliminating crime. Of what importance is a crime prevention policy if it promotes crime from other aspects? Better strategies such as community policing have proven effective and hence should be adopted.
Work cited
Carmen, Alejandro, Racial Profiling in America, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008 pp98-110
Edmonds, David, Does Profiling Make sense or Is it unfair, BBC News, December 19, 2017 https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-42328764
Head, Tom, Why Racial Profiling is a bad idea, ThoughtCo, 2018, https://www.thoughtco.com/downside-of-racial-profiling-721529
Mannes, Benjamin, Not all Profiling is Race bases or Wrong headed, The Hill, https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/crime/299033-not-all-police-profiling-is-race-based-or-wrong-headed
