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Reducing Ethnic Profiling in the European Union - Open Society ...

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for mak<strong>in</strong>g stops, and with certa<strong>in</strong> operations that had legitimate objective but wereproduc<strong>in</strong>g disproportionate results.The program was run on a monthly basis, automatically email<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> supervisor ofany officer it identifies, and generat<strong>in</strong>g details of <strong>the</strong> officers’ stops and a templateof questions to ask <strong>the</strong> officers. Supervisors were tra<strong>in</strong>ed, and required to <strong>in</strong>terview<strong>the</strong> officer. Supervisors reported on all <strong>in</strong>terviews with recommendations for actionsor re-tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g.The rate of statistically significant disproportionality dropped among <strong>the</strong> officerswho were identified and <strong>in</strong>terviewed, and across <strong>the</strong> force as a whole. The dataenabled rout<strong>in</strong>e conversations by supervisors with officers about ethnic profil<strong>in</strong>g,and officers were aware that <strong>the</strong>ir stops were scrut<strong>in</strong>ized and any disproportionalitymust be expla<strong>in</strong>ed. Complement<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> focus on <strong>in</strong>dividual officers, communityimpact assessment protocols were improved, so that operational plann<strong>in</strong>g couldtake account of potential impact on <strong>the</strong> public and brief officers accord<strong>in</strong>gly. Unfortunately,<strong>the</strong> program was discont<strong>in</strong>ued and rates of disproportionality have s<strong>in</strong>ce risen.<strong>Ethnic</strong> profil<strong>in</strong>g is not only <strong>the</strong> result of <strong>the</strong> discretionary decisions of <strong>in</strong>dividualofficers. <strong>Profil<strong>in</strong>g</strong> also results from decisions about how to police certa<strong>in</strong> areasor neighborhoods and what operations to conduct <strong>in</strong> response to different crime andpublic order issues. Just as <strong>in</strong>dividual officers’ actions require supervision, operationalstrategies should also be subjected to scrut<strong>in</strong>y to assure that <strong>the</strong>y are not discrim<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>gaga<strong>in</strong>st any groups. Operation Pennant is a program developed <strong>in</strong> London that comparedlevels of disproportionality among <strong>the</strong> 23 polic<strong>in</strong>g areas (boroughs).UNITED KINGDOMLondon Metropolitan Police Service’s Operation Pennant to Monitor Area-Based <strong>Profil<strong>in</strong>g</strong> 195In October 2006, <strong>the</strong> Metropolitan Police Service <strong>in</strong>troduced Operation Pennant,an <strong>in</strong>ternal accountability system aimed at reduc<strong>in</strong>g disproportionality <strong>in</strong> stopsand searches by hold<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> worst perform<strong>in</strong>g polic<strong>in</strong>g areas (based on Londonboroughs) to account. The Pennant performance framework looks at five aspects of<strong>the</strong> use of <strong>the</strong> stop powers:• Number of stop and searches;• Arrest rate;112 STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING ETHNIC DISPROPORTIONALITY

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