Advantages of Racial ProfilingAdvantages of Racial ProfilingAdvantages of Racial ProfilingRacial Profiling is the most strenuous and worlds debatable topic. Profiling means law enforcement and private security practices that disproportionately target people of color, race, ethnic and religion for investigation and enforcement. More stories about the profiling are heard in the field of airlines, Police and government agencies and are being seen more as a disadvantage than advantage. Although, the system of profiling has caused lot of inconvenience to the innocent people, at the same time, most of them do understand that few minutes or few hours inconvenience is worth, as it provides the feeling of safety to travel in that particular airline or to stay in that country, as there will be no mishaps or any attacks by the terrorist. Let us accept the racial profiling as advantage. Surprised, shocked and calling me insane. I would like to highlight the advantages of racial profiling in both highway stops as well as airport scrutiny. Though, you might question me to address either highway stops or airport scrutiny but to convince the readers, I would like to address both the issues and convince the readers to see the positive aspect of profiling.
Most of the time, our assumption play a vital role to conclude the situation as racial profiling, without analyzing the situation. We all hear, read or see the mishaps at the highways, as criminals do their job and escape through highway. It has become very difficult to control these mishaps though efforts are made to stop them. Country cannot depute whole team of Police at airport or highways to check everyone, as this not only slows down the traffic and causes inconvenience to people but, also cost affecting to that particular department. I will quote an example which I experienced and was an eye-witness to this incident. Last May, I was traveling back to San Diego with my family from San Jose. I observed an old car was driven behind us for quite sometime and I could see from the mirror that the driver was really tensed. We thought to take a break to have lunch hence took a diversion and realized that the car also took detour and parked at the Shell Gas Station. I assumed that the driver was tensed, with a thought of running out of gas, but, I saw within few minutes there was highway patrolman questioning him. He was a Hispanic and after few minutes of questioning, he started telling people around him that he is being questioned because he is a Hispanic. But, as an observer, I could see that he was uncomfortable by the questioning and was not having an eye-to-eye contact with the policeman. Hence, I was sure that there is something fishy about the driver. After thorough check, policeman removed drug and a weapon from his car. Until then, people believed that it was a profiling, but when the drug and weapon was revealed, onlookers realized the truth. This incident proves that onlookers jumps into assumption of concluding any incident as profiling without analysis.
Drug abuse and drug supply is the major threat to the country. Statistical figures of 2007 shown by Gallup states, the Hispanics and the Afro-Americans are more involved in these cases. We always act based either on the facts, on the stories heard or on our past experience. This psychological strategy is applicable in the field of crime, scrutinizing people and stopping the traffic. It is natural for the police to take an action based either on the eye witness, if available or by the past history. Hence, the police stops people who belong to that particular race or ethnic group as their group are actively involved in spreading this threat. People who are aware of the background, will not feel humiliated or offended for stopping them, as they understand that the police are doing their job. I do agree that there are incidents where police arrest innocent but, at the same time, it is also true that they will be released after thorough check. Think over, can these be concluded as racial profiling or the steps taken for the safety of children and teenagers, who might become drug addicts. Arresting drug suppliers is the precautionary steps taken to build strong and good citizens.
Bruce Schneier in his article, “Schneier on Security” has said that observation and intuition is the best and proved way to catch the criminals. To support his statement, the author has quoted an example of the efficiency of the highway police which was confused to be racial profiling but was later appreciated for saving people. Ahmed Ressam, a wanted terrorist by Canadian police, changed his identity as Benni Antoine Noris and got the clearance by computer to travel to Los Angeles. He had an intention of blowing Los Angeles International airport on 14 December, 1999. He was carrying a suitcase in his cars trunk and had entered US by ferryboat from Victoria Island, British Columbia.
[page break] This example shows that there is a very good reason for what the police are doing about the crime of terrorism.[citation needed] “Terrorist Attacks”
[page break] As the article states, “Terrorist attacks are not simply a part of the crime. They go beyond. Like all terrorist acts, they are part of the crime: there are many motives. One motive is revenge against a person or group or political or economic group for the conduct of a specific crime.”[cite source=”article;”]
A similar example can be seen with the U.S.-French and Russian governments’ failure to act after the 9/11 attacks.[cite source=”Article;”]
This is not to say that many countries are ignoring or avoiding the problem on the part of the U.S. government or those in power; one should say that some of the best examples of these cases exist, but as I have said, they are all still a part of the problem.
[page break] On 9/11, it was the Saudis who, under the pretext of being asked to stop bombing Americans, were saying: “Please, don’t do that. If you don’t want an American to die in Beirut, that is part of our fault or our fault too.”[cite source=”article;”]
The U.S.-Russian collaboration. In May 2002, the Federal Aviation Administration was notified that Russian planes had violated US law against U.S. aircraft flying over American airspace,[cite source=”article;”] The FAA stated:[f] “Russian aircraft entering the U.S. airspace may not be allowed to enter the United States if they are at the same time traveling against U.S. law.”[cite source=”Article;”] According to the FAA, “this violation of U.S. law may raise questions about the ability to avoid collisions with civilian air traffic and the ability to conduct safety operations.” According to another FAA official, “the FAA will not comment on pending questions concerning safety for U.S.-run aircraft flying over U.S. airspace”.
[page break] There are, of course, important points to be made. While terrorism is a political evil, the “terrorist acts” which are committed against an international community are legitimate political acts. And the U.S.-Russian agreement to protect their allies does not include “terrorism acts against the United States”.
[page break] The fact remains that the law should be enforced responsibly. There is still a legitimate concern that Russian military might is being used as a cover for anti-Semitic attacks. It is a matter of diplomacy and restraint, not a question of what they should and which they