>DO you think that racial profiling is a problem in the city of Minneapolis
>and If so what can we do to stop it? Please let me know what you think.
>
>Steven Froemming
>Windom
>63A 11-6
Hi Steven, welcome to this list. There's been a number of posts recently
on the Racial Profiling issue. You might want to check out the list
archives. There has been a fair amount of discussion on this issue recently.
http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/
Connie Shepherd had this to say yesterday:
"In response to the complaints about lack of effective
policing in Phillips (where I live, one block off
Franklin) I am inclined to investigate other reasons
than those proffered.
Judging by the drastic decline in police stops from
January 2001 to February 2001, (about 5,000 less) I'd
say that some officers are clearly afraid of being
pegged as racist. Recall that reporting began in
February, in an effort to pinpoint racial profiling.
------------------------------------------
This is what they call a "confounding factor" in epidemiology. However,
with only the data we have, it's difficult to determin conclusively whether
this is the case.
-------------------------------
Now profiling is a delicate issue, and I'm not
purporting to have the answers. What I DO know is
that if officers are afraid of harsh judgment on their
stops, they simply won't make the stops. Job security
will be found in turning a blind eye to crime, unless
it's being committed by a white male, preferably in an
SUV.
-----------------------------------
It is also frustrating, when you work in an enforcement area, to get second
guessed by your higher ups in the media, when you are trying to do your job.
--------------------------------------------------
This is at least as grave an issue as is racial
profiling itself - because it means that residents of
the most vulnerable areas (often mostly minority
themselves) may be left without the protection their
tax dollars help pay for.
------------------------------
Katherine Kersten has a similar argument in today's Star Tribune.
http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?template=opinion_a&sl
ug=ker14
And police chief Robert Olson has a counterpoint to Kersten's column on the
same subject last week:
http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?template=opinion_a&sl
ug=ols14
Eva Young
Central
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