Racial Profiling In American Police Report

American police officers are being used to oppress and surveil historically oppressed people. Police in modern day America are often viewed as tyrannical soldiers rather than peacekeepers. Many officers have a systematic agenda given by their superiors to arrest and harass Black people in order to remain feared and in control. Racial profiling is the biggest reason Black people are being oppressed. It is hard to think that officers interrogate civilians purely based on how they appear but this occurs far too often. In the PBS documentary “Policing the Police” Newark police officers conduct “field inquiries”, also known as stop and frisk, on suspects they have a hunch about. “In July, 2014, the Department of Justice released a report that showed

Even if suspects know that they do not have to cooperate in searches, the officers are very good at getting their way one way or another, whether it means threatening jail time or arresting them for a made up reason. “The biggest threat facing minority New Yorkers now is not “over-policing,” and certainly not brutal policing. The NYPD has one of the lowest rates of officer shootings and killings in the country; it is recognized internationally for its professionalism and training standards. Deaths such as Eric Garner’s are an aberration, which the department does everything it can to avoid. The biggest threat facing minority New Yorkers today is de-policing. After years of ungrounded criticism from the press and activists, after highly publicized litigation and the passage of ill-considered laws—such as the one making officers financially liable for alleged “racial profiling”—NYPD officers have radically scaled back their discretionary activity. Pedestrian stops have dropped 80 percent citywide and almost 100 percent in some areas. The department is grappling with how to induce officers to use their lawful authority again to stop crime before it happens. Garner’s death was a heartbreaking tragedy, but the unjustified backlash against misdemeanor enforcement is likely to result in more tragedy for New Yorkers” (36, Heather Mac Donald).” Here, Mac Donald makes me feel threatened by the criminal justice system. She advocates for more tyrannical policing involving interrogating and searching innocent people. I would hate to be in a situation where an officer was questioning me and wanted to search my person. If I declined the search I would most likely be asked “what do you have to hide?” and that can escalate into an unnecessary confrontation. Police officers should be involved in more community policing. that I believe police officers should try to build a bridge between the social separation of civilians and law enforcement, but because of incidents like stop