Why are police targeting minorities for traffic stops?

Answer 1

tradition

Answer 2

They don't and if they do it's a violation of the law. Racial profiling is a violation of a persons civil rights. That said.....police profile people all the time but it doesn't seem to matter unless that profile includes the race most often associated with the offense. Several years ago the profile for a drug smuggler on the east coast was a black or Hispanic male traveling in a Fla. rental vehicle originating in Fla. and traveling to NY. Once a stop was initiated, for a valid violation, the profile continued to include no visible luggage, lots of fast food bags, receipts indicating continuous travel such as gas receipts. The violator was unusually nervous, was not the registered renter of the vehicle, and if accompanied by a passenger, usually gave conflicting statements about the destination, reason for the trip, and a different point of origin than the other passenger. There were white males who would fit the profile with the exception of being black or Hispanic and got arrested but still the profile identified black and Hispanic males as most often the drug smuggler. Even though the statistical data indicated the smuggler would be black or Hispanic race became the issue.
Other police profiles would be things like drunk driving. The profile of a drunk driver would be irregular speed, weaving, and running off the side of the road. Once a traffic stop for a valid reason was initiated the profile would continue to include blood shot eyes, fumbling for the license and registration, slurred speech, and a strong odor of alcohol. Since race didn't seem to be an issue it's not a part of the profile. Whereas race did seem to be a part of the profile for drug smugglers.
In short defense attorney's played the race card and made the entirety of the defense being, "my client was only stopped because he was black", or, "my client was only stopped because he was Hispanic". It is never, and will never be right, to stop a vehicle based solely on the race of the driver, but given the totality of the circumstances of a valid traffic stop corroborated by other identifiable visual evidence including the high probability that an ethnic minor would more likely be a perpetrator it was a factor considered at that time. Now police are encouraged to exclude the factor that the probability that a particular ethnic minority will more than likely be the perpetrator of a crime is highly likely.
Facts are facts. But if you perchance have your plane blow out from under you by an Islamic fundamentalist remember it would be wrong to search a person of Arabic descent for a bomb simply because he was of Arabic descent, even though 98% of suicide bombers are of Arabic descent.

Answer 3

That is just an excuse for the reason why more minorities are getting pulled over. The fact is that even minority police officers pull over minorities, so there is no racial profiling involved. I am not saying all cops do not profile because I am sure that some do. The fact is that if you and a minority are driving down the road at the same speed and you swerve, you will get pulled over. Police do not go and say oh a black person lets pull them over.

Answer 4

And exactly what makes you think that the police are targeting minorities? I seriously doubt that a cop is able to accurately identify the race of the driver prior to pulling a vehicle over for a moving violation.

Oh wait... I've got it.... We can supply each officer with a chart showing the relative racial percentages in his/her area. Before pulling a vehicle over for violating traffic laws they will be asked to identify the race of the driver and check their table to make sure that they are meeting their quotas properly. If the driver happens to be of a race that has received a disproportionate number of violations that day they will be allowed to continue driving at 110mph through a red light in a school zone...

Or..... perhaps the only thing that should matter is whether or not one is operating their vehicle within the law...

Answer 5

Most of the time when you're driving behind another car, you can't even tell what race the driver is. Race may have some influence in some traffic stops, but overall, I bet the issue is overblown.

The likelier scenario is that police have a heavier presence in high-crime neighborhoods, and there are a lot of non-white people in those neighborhoods. I'm not saying that this explains every case of "driving while black", but it probably explains a lot of them.

Answer 6

Have you ever thought that maybe it's a coincidence that the minorities are the bad drivers? Also, I can't really say the minorities are targeted in Texas because in Texas the white people are the minorities.

Answer 7

Have you listened to the news lately? I'm surprised the minority man that killed the woman police officer is alive. The other one had 63 bullets in him for killing an officer. I also think they can catch minorities with a lot of other things, drugs, guns, whatever you have. So they stop them more than other people.

Answer 8

My husband's a cop, and maybe one out of about every 50 cars he stops has a minority driver. He always gets the "You're only stopping me because I'm black!" He even got that B.S. when he was working the midnight shift, and it was too dark to see what color the person was behind the wheel of the car. If you're driving like an idiot, he's going to pull you over. Your race, color, or creed has nothing to do with it.

They also keep track of that kind of thing at the department. If any officer appears to be pulling over a disproportionate amount of any particular race, color, or sex, they get in trouble. They do this everywhere now.

Answer 9

They are not targetting minorities.

Statistics can be used to show that they are, but did you think that maybe there are more "minorities" stopped as some of these sections of the community actually give the police more cause for concern and offer more reasons to be stopped? such as driving rubbish? cars falling apart? etc.

Answer 10

Its called profiling.

Truthfully there are two sides to the argument.

For: those profiles didn't come from thin air, they were based on the past history of those most likely to be committing certain crimes in a certain way.

Against: The profiling "figures" after a while become self-supporting as the only people they are looking for fit a certain mold it ignores the fact that people who don't fit the mold are likely to get away with it. It doesn't "evolve" and eventually allows more people to get away with things.

Answer 11

Do you have any proof that they are targeting minorities for traffic stops?