RACIAL PROFILING IS A MISNOMER

When cops profile someone they’re ‘suspect profiling,’ not racial profiling, and that’s just good ‘proactive’ policing

When cops are on patrol they profile people who seem out of place or are acting suspiciously. When it’s a black person being profiled by the cops it’s come to be called racial profiling, and racial profiling has been deemed illegal. But the police are not actually practicing racial profiling. The term is a misnomer.

The proper term should be suspect profiling. That’s what cops do all the time ….. they see someone who looks out of place or acts suspiciously, and they check him or her out. See a black person in a predominantly white neighborhood at 1 a.m., check him out. See a white person in a black neighborhood at 1 a.m., check him out. See a white or black person acting suspiciously at any time of day or night in any neighborhood, check him out. See someone who looks like a gangbanger, stop and frisk him any time of day or night to see if he’s carrying any weapons. What the cops are doing is suspect profiling and that’s just good ‘proactive’ poling. Those stop and frisks do prevent burglaries, car thefts and even murders.

Unfortunately, innocent people are going to be checked out as well as criminals. But when the cops do that, they are doing it to protect the public. Because a disproportionate number of blacks are criminals, a disproportionate number of blacks are going to be checked out and, unfortunately, some of them are going to be innocent law abiding citizens. But that’s no reason to do away with a good proactive policing tactic.