Dakota County Sheriff’s Department report to the Minnesota Legislature was completed as part of the Minnesota statewide racial profiling study. The report covered an analysis of the traffic stop statistics gathered in Dakota county. The results demonstrated that the local Police stopped certain minority groups at a rate which was higher than expected. For instance, Latino and Black citizens were stopped at a substantially higher rate compared to the predicted number of stops (Dakota County, 2003). Moreover, these two groups were more likely to be arrested than other drivers stopped by the Police. Similarly, American Indians also were overrepresented in the statistics since, initially, they were forecast to be stopped less often. At the same time, people belonging to other ethnic groups were stopped rarer than the County Sheriff’s Department expected. The main example is the White drivers who were stopped at a significantly lower rate, as well as the members of the Asian population of the county (Dakota County, 2003). When analyzing searches, the department discovered that the officers were more likely to search Black and Latino drivers, despite that the White drivers had contraband more often.
The main ethical issue arising from the practice of racial profiling is a biased view of people based on the color of their skin. Essentially, when Police officers target individuals not by relying on some data that they committed a crime such as witnesses’ testaments, but by their race, they engage in discrimination. Another ethical issue inherent to racial profiling is that by profiling a certain ethnic group, the Police automatically allows other ones to get the privilege of not being falsely identified as criminals. Racial profiling also can cause potential legal issues when viewed from the perspective of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection of the law to all citizens (Gans, 2019). In Colorado, racial profiling is prohibited according to the recently passed law HB16-1263 (“Racial profiling,” 2016). I would further improve Colorado’s law by creating a special committee tasked with reviewing all of the complaints of people who believe they were racially profiled.
References
Dakota County Sheriff’s Department. (2003). Minnesota statewide racial profiling report: Dakota county sheriff’s department. Web.
Gans, D. (2020). The 14th Amendment was meant to be a protection against state violence. The Atlantic. Web.
Racial profiling prohibition. (2016). Colorado General Assembly. Web.