NIGHTLINE:
America in Black and White —
Fitting the Profile, Part II

April 3, 1998

              TED KOPPEL
This is not our first program on the subject of profiling. Previously, my colleague Michel McQueen introduced many of us to the concept of DWB, a piece of irony that most African - Americans will recognize as referring to the risk of driving while black. There is a conviction among many black Americans that they are frequently stopped by police for no other reason than that they are black. Which brings us to the important distinction between profiling, which is legal, and racial profiling, which is not.
The practice of profiling is a common enough law enforcement device. Immigration officials, for example, may develop the profile of a likely terrorist, customs officials will have the profile of a likely drug smuggler and the highway patrol or state police officers will frequently carry out extensive searches of cars and drivers stopped for traffic violations if a combination of factors lead them to believe that someone may be transporting drugs from one part of the country to another.
On a previous Nightline, we introduced you to a number of African - Americans who insisted that this sort of thing happens to them regularly and for no other reason than their race. Indeed, several successful lawsuits have been brought against police departments for just that reason. But, as Nightline Correspondent Michel McQueen now reports, there's more than one side to the story...

(Webmaster's note: McCollum was quoted several minutes into this piece.)

REP BILL MCCOLLUM, (R), FLORIDA If we don't make these stops, if we eliminated profiling, we would be in deep trouble in terms of the deterrent effect.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Bill McCollum, who represents the Orlando area in Congress, says he is sensitive to complaints by minorities that they are being singled out for traffic stops. But he says there's a good reason.

REP BILL MCCOLLUM All the studies I've seen have shown that the reality is that a disproportionate amount of crimes dealing with drugs and dealing with violent crime are being committed by African-Americans than are by other racial or ethnic groups.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) But that may not be accurate. For example, 73 percent of those arrested on drug charges on Florida's highways last year were white males and there are no reliable national numbers on traffic stops and drug charges by race. But critics of profiling say it's not just inaccurate to say minorities are mainly responsible for drug dealing, it is irrelevant. ...


[ To Al's Info Menu | To End The War On Drugs ]


Updated 98/04/17 by webmaster@vote-al.org ----- Built, hosted, and maintained by kryo.com