Racial Profiling is a No-No

Racial profiling is a violation of human and civil rights. It has been used by law enforcement agencies to target and harrass certain communities, like the African-American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and the Asian, Middle Eastern, and South Asian communities.

So because we are in Texas, I get a pep in my two step when I hear stories like this one.

This is from Jacksonville, where in the world is this town, Texas. It seems that the chief there is taking racial profiling by his officers very seriously.

“We haven’t received any racial profiling complaints in the past year, however, we did receive one the year before. After checking the tapes, it was determined to be unfounded, and it wasn’t even made by the person who was supposedly profiled, it was made by a friend of theirs,” he said. “The law requires that formal complaints against officers must be made in writing. However, even if someone just calls us about an officer behaving inappropriately, we will review the tapes to see what happened. This is something that we want to make sure that we have no problems with.”

The information the chief is talking about is required by Texas statute. The law requires police departments to collect data pertaining to traffic stops, pedestrian stops, searches conducted and citations issued. Although this law is not perfect, it is a step forward.

One of the things that could be done around the state is to require written consent for consent searches. For those that don't know, consent searches are searches that are done without probable cause. The person gives officers consent to search them. On a probable cause search, the officers have a reason to search the person. For example, they search a car because they see a crack pipe on the passanger seat. I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.

Back to the article, "the report shows that of a total 4,256 citations given, 2,364 (55.5 percent) citations were issued to white drivers, 935 (21.9 percent) were issued to black drivers and 951 (22.3 percent) were issued to Hispanic drivers in 2007. Census information from 2000 indicates that 53.5 percent of Jacksonville’s population is white, 21.5 percent is black and 23 percent is Hispanic. "

I want to congratulate Jacksonville, Texas for not profiling.