Police subculture is always shown as a persistent and a potential factor that can influence the behavior of other officers. The basis of these allegations is regarded to be flimsy and mostly depends on the critical impending of the concept than the descriptive power. This article is about the racial profiling of the police. On October 6, 2003, The Toronto Star started a string of investigations of stories of racial profiling in Toronto. The information was drawn together from a database owned by the Toronto police and various crime statistics from independent bodies. It included various documents of arrest warrants and charge sheets. The database contains information on more than 500,000 incidents that occurred and led to an arrest or fined by the police department from the period of 1998 to 2003.
The information was accessed mainly because of the freedom of information act since the police had initially refused to give access to that information. A renowned statistician from Harvard University was used to scrutinize the methodology used and found it to be accurate. The analysis gave out shocking revelations indicating how different ways were used when dealing with blacks and white people in law enforcement.
The data showed that a very contradictory number of African American motorists were given tickets for violations that only came about after being stopped. Also, African Americans who were accused of petty drug possession were regularly taken to police stations than white people facing a similar charge. The other abnormality was that African Americans were normally apprehended overnight for a bail hearing at two times the rate normally paid by white people.
These facts were too disturbing to any civilian especially members of the black community. As an African American officer, I decided to investigate this matter because it is not something that is practiced by every policeman. I decided to discuss this issue with my two former colleagues, one who happens to be an African American (Shawn), and the other a Whiteman (Jim). According to Jim, the reason why there is racial profiling is that a lot of black people and Hispanics are involved in crime than white people.
Being a former officer I can attest to that because in my line of duty I have encountered numerous black people engaging in crime at different levels. Another thing that he pointed out was that a lot of Hispanics and Black people are in gangs and come from poor backgrounds thus ending up getting involved in crime. Such perceptions towards Black people and Hispanics are the reasons why there is police profiling. The facts and ordinary ordeals by officers in the police force create a platform for profiling.
However, as new members join the force, officers are drawn from different backgrounds and races like the old times where 75% of the officers were white as Shawn bluntly suggested. Some of the officers currently being recruited have even experienced life in crime. Thus with the new crop of officers, there is less racial profiling. Shawn also pointed out that it is people with conservative tendencies who judge people by their skin color. Such factors make some of the new officers to be reluctant to the culture of racial profiling.
From the discussion with the two officers, I realized that racial profiling will still remain a major issue within the police force. This is due to the fact that the available truth tends to associate black people and Hispanics with more crime than white people.