Stop and Frisk Racial Profiling Essay

Introduction

This paper will focus on racial inequality and policing, specifically the influence of race on Canadian police practices. The main argument in this paper suggests that race influences the practices of Canadian police, such that those who are visible minorities experience the most racially biased police practices. With a major focus on the lived experiences and interactions of visible minorities with Canadian police, this paper addresses the over-policing of Blacks predominantly, all while comparing the experiences of policing on visible minorities to non-visible minorities. In support of this argument, the following discusses how racial profiling of visible minorities can lead to the excessive use of police stop-and-search practices, carding, racial stereotypes, and a lack of confidence amongst groups classified as visible minorities by Canadian police. The evidence provided in the following also supports the argument that visible minorities, specifically African-diasporic individuals, experience the most racially biased police practices by focusing on 1) community policing amongst the youth of color, 2) stop-and-search practices amongst street life youths, 3) profiling minorities in White dominated/high crime neighborhoods, and 4) the outcomes of over-policing visible minorities. With the supporting evidence outlined, the following contribute to the main argument that the practices of Canadian police are racially biased and therefore heavily influenced by race.

Community Policing Amongst Youth of Color

Community policing amongst areas heavily concentrated on the youth of color demonstrates ways in which police practices are influenced by race. Community-level policing also demonstrates that some neighborhoods, more than others, are over-policed, such that we need to improve the trust, respect, self-preservation, and information-sharing levels among police-minority youth relations (Giwa et al. 218). As to what goes wrong in the relationship between police and youth of color, one can conclude that there is a lack of trust between the youth of color and police that needs to be strengthened, more community-based activities are needed, where both police and youth of color don't feel a sense of threat to their safety, or reputation. Given this, issues faced today by youth of color surround the notion that building a relationship with the police labels one as a snitch or a rat by other community members (Giwa et al.). On the other hand, police actors believe there needs to be more cultural education, money, a dismantling of the culture of fear, and more outreach programs for older teens, in order to build a proper relationship amongst youth of color (Giwa et al.). From a cost-benefit analysis, both approaches are flawed, seeing as both youth of color and police actors are less inclined to build a relationship with each other seeing as this process has more costs than benefits. Further, most youth of color use a groupthink approach when addressing their views on building relationships with police actors, such that they view community policing as a practice that carries police stereotypes and prejudices against racial or ethnic minorities (Giwa et al. 226). With this mentality, it is hard to attain a proper relationship between police and youth of color without a lack of trust or transparency. However, if police and youth of color were to have a stronger relationship of trust, then community policing tactics could dismantle the notion of police actors using racial stereotypes and stigmatization to influence how they approach youth of color community members. By building a stronger police-youth of color relationship, we can have stronger communication, cooperation, sensitivity, and understanding between each other. This could simply be attained by talking to youth, making them feel understood, establishing an honest and transparent relationship, and finding a common ground (Giwa et al. 227). As conducted in a community-based survey, African-diasporic individuals, which are those who self-identify as African, Caribbean, or Black, outlined that their perceptions and experiences with police in Ontario, Canada were negative, such that their social environment and daily life interactions with police heavily relied on their race (Peirone et al. 365). Further, communities heavily concentrated with African-diasporic youth, state that their community or social environment contributed significantly to their interactions or perceived discrimination by police actors (Peirone et al. 347). With a specific focus on African-diasporic individuals, we see how such communities are over-policed and experience the most racially biased policing. By using a broken windows theory, it is argued that disorder in neighborhoods serves as a precursor for serious crime, whereas routine activities theory argues that the activities of daily life in certain neighborhoods are unsupervised, in which the opportunity for criminal activity is more likely (Peirone et al. 349). With both theories in mind, it is prevalent that community policing amongst youth of color is justified using this mentality, in which an increase in police presence or over-policing in disorderly neighborhoods is created as a result. Given the above claims, we can also use critical race theory to analyze community policing amongst youth of color and conclude that African-diasporic individuals, experience increased surveillance, over-policing, and increasing interactions with Canadian police than non-visible monitories, seeing as these communities face a higher risk of harm and criminal activity likelihood.

Stop-and-search practices Amongst Street Life Youths

As outlined by Meng (2017), the rates of stop-and-search practices by Toronto Police Services (TPS) amongst Black youth in Toronto, Canada are continuously increasing, whereas the rates amongst White youth are slowly decreasing (Meng 2017; 5). Moreover, police practices of stop-and-search, frisking, or carding are mostly used in areas where more white individuals reside or areas that have high rates of crime. Police practices of stop-and-search are becoming increasingly popular, in which the use of random stops and questioning of individuals in the streets is proactive and controversial. This practice is considered a way of deterring criminals from committing further offenses, but it is also a way in which certain bodies feel a sense of intrusiveness, harassment, and intimidation (Meng 2017; 6). The use of stop-and-search practices is also a form of racial profiling, seeing as Blacks are predominantly the ones exposed to excessive stop-and-search practices used amongst TPS. As a response, TPS has justified its use for stop-and-search practices predominantly amongst Black youths, seeing as this group is more likely to be involved in homicides or crimes involving drugs and firearms (Meng 2017; 6). It is also quite difficult to verify this claim outlined by TPS, seeing as the collection and release of race-based crime data is limited within Canada. Given this, we should not be inclined to rule out the possibility that stop-and-search practices used amongst predominantly Black youth are also a form of racial profiling and racially biased policing. As a result of stop-and-search, frisking, or carding practices used amongst Canadian police, this use of over-policing also creates distrust and non-compliance tactics used amongst predominantly visible minority groups. With a specific focus on Black Canadians, they view the police less positively than White Canadians do (Sprott and Doob 374). Likewise, other visible minority groups, such as Chinese Canadians and Aboriginal Canadians, rate Canadian police and their practices more negatively than Whites do. Given this, it is prevalent that the experiences of police stop-and-search, use of force, discretion, or carding practices amongst visible monitories vary across different racial groups, and severely depend on interpersonal interactions with police. Likewise, interactions with police amongst visible minorities also depend on place, seeing as racial and cultural groups are not equally distributed across Canada (Sprott and Doob 375). Having said that, when looking at the interactions and use of stop-and-search practices by police amongst visible minorities, it is also key to consider both time and place, seeing as racial and cultural groups vary depending on both time and place. Likewise, consensus theory argues that visible minority street life youths are overly exposed to stop-and-search practices, seeing as this group of individuals is heavily inclined to engage in illegal behaviors that offend society (Hayle et al. 324). Further, if society upholds a consensus that one should not violate societal values, such that certain individuals pose a threat or risk of harm to such values or goals, then they should be put through whatever means possible to reduce this risk of harm, in which stop-and-search practices is a possible outcome of such consensus.

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Profiling Minorities in white-dominated/High Crime Neighborhoods

Racially profiling minorities in white-dominated or high-crime neighborhoods is also a key factor in how race influences police practices. By using a functionalist perspective to justify the profiling of minorities in high-crime neighborhoods, one would argue that police impose criminal sanctions on those that conflict with society's moral code, such that those who disrupt social harmony and create disequilibrium should be policed, especially within high crime neighborhoods (Hayle et al. 324). From a conflict theory perspective, profiling minorities in white-dominated or high-crime neighborhoods is seen as a way in which certain bodies use their resources or power to exploit those viewed as less powerful or those lacking certain resources (Hayle et al. 325). By using this framework, we see that visible minorities, with a specific focus on Blacks, are over-policed in white-dominated or high-crime neighborhoods because they're perceived as a dangerous group as a whole, rather than simply responding to individual criminal behaviors. As a result of this, profiling minorities in white-dominated or high-crime neighborhoods has exploited certain members of society and labeled them as properties of the police, such that this police practice is an open expression of oppression towards certain minority bodies within a community. Likewise, Black individuals in Canada predominately experience racial profiling at the hands of the police, seeing as Whites in certain neighborhoods carry more dominant interests and pose less of a threat to the social order statistically, in which Blacks are then treated as the repressed group and racially profiled. Profiling of minorities in white-dominated or high-crime neighborhoods also gives rise to the use of biases in police practices, in which visible minorities are overly exposed to severe racial profiling. As a result, this form of racially biased policing is not only a racist practice, but it subjects a particular ethnic-racial group to over-surveillance and policing compared to non-racialized groups (Reasons et al. 80). Further, it is believed that most minority neighborhoods are heavily concentrated with criminal activity, such that police tend to over-police racial minorities in predominantly white and wealthy neighborhoods due to this preconceived knowledge, and as a result racial stereotypes are held against visible minorities (Meng 2014; 7). Therefore, in areas that are not heavily racialized or disadvantaged, such as white-dominated neighborhoods, there is a heavy police presence and over-policing when there is a presence of visible minorities, due to police practices of racial profiling. Having said that, it is prevalent that profiling minorities in white-dominated or high-crime neighborhoods is heavily reliant on neighborhood characteristics, such as racial and socio-economic dimensions, and one cannot fully examine the use of racially biased policing without considering such neighborhood characteristics.

The Outcomes of Over-Policing Visible Minorities

It is also important to discuss the major outcomes of over-policing visible minorities, in order to fully analyze how race influences police practices. Racially biased policing amongst visible minorities creates an over-policing environment, in which the use of force, discretion, or use of stop-and-search or carding practices stem from subjective perceptions or biased personal knowledge, and as a result, this influences police actors' interactions with visible minorities (Meng 2014; 6). Further, with police actors' knowledge or interaction with suspects, crimes, and high-crime neighborhoods, they therefore have more knowledge than the average person as to how race may play a role in the threat or risk of harm to society. Given this, when police actors are given too much discretion at an individual officer level, such that they abuse this discretion, this may result in visible racial minorities experiencing excessive use of police stop-and-search or carding practices in particular neighborhoods (Meng 2014; 6). With a specific focus on African-diasporic individuals, we can therefore see how the outcomes of over-policing such individuals single out, and create negative perceptions of this specific group, in which this perception may influence not only how police actors view African-diasporic individuals, but how society as a whole may view visible minorities. Another outcome of over-policing visible minority groups is the notion that specific racial groups within society may hold negative perceptions of the police and their practices, which then creates a lack of trust in police-visible minority relationships. Further, a lack of trust between police and visible minorities may lead to a lack of public confidence in Canadian police as a whole and a promotion of non-compliance tactics. Through the use of non-compliance tactics, visible minorities are more inclined to develop a code of the street mentality and trust their own peers, rather than cooperate or comply with police actors. Another outcome of over-policing visible minorities gives rise to the levels of misconduct within police agencies, especially in the practices of Canadian police. Further, such misconduct gives rise to the lack of diversity prevalent amongst police force institutions, in which members who play an important role in society should be representatives of society and impose the law on all citizens, no matter what race one is (Syed 101). Given the use of over-policing predominantly amongst African-diasporic youth, such members express their displeasure with police and their practices, such that some feel as if police actors abuse their power, and are at times too aggressive when policing visible minorities, especially when certain bodies do not align with a certain community’s dominant social values, or norms/goals (Syed 101). Evidently, over-policing visible minorities can also be easily mistaken as police actors abusing their powers, such that African-diasporic members in society express that police abuse their powers at the cost of their own lives and freedom. Further, African-diasporic citizens, such as Black, Caribbean, or African individuals, describe their experiences of over-policing as a form of racial profiling, obstruction of justice, differential treatment, and a practice where police are over-aggressive and abusing their role in society (Syed 107). Likewise, youth who identify as visible minorities express that their interactions with over-policing have always been a negative experience that creates negative perceptions, and overgeneralizations of the police force institution as a whole. As an example, visible minority youth find that their experiences with Southern Ontario police were heavily concentrated with aggressive, young, White, male officers who continuously rely on negative stereotypes of Blacks when interacting with visible minorities as a whole, in which African-diasporic bodies are oftentimes grouped into one racial category and overly-exposed to police misconduct (Syed 113).

Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper outlines the impact of race on policing experiences. It investigates whether the practices and strategies of Canadian police deliver treatment and services that produce racially biased inequalities towards African-diasporic individuals. By looking at aspects of community policing amongst youth of color, stop-and-search practices amongst street life youths, profiling minorities in white-dominated/high-crime neighborhoods, and the outcomes of over-policing visible minorities, one can conclude that there is racial inequality in policing.