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

y Danish police of an elderly man of Palestinian origin who was trying to prevent thepolice from stopping and searching another individual. 43 Danish media reports andcivil society activists attributed the civil unrest to the routine use of stop-and-search inminority areas. 44Another adverse effect of ethnic profiling is increased levels of hostility in encountersbetween individuals and law enforcement officers. Greater hostility increases thechances that routine encounters will escalate intoaggression and conflict, posing safety concernsHIT RATESfor officers and community members alike. 45The “hit rate” is the proportionThe impact of ethnic profiling on law enforcementof identity checks or stops andsearches that result in formal Ethnic profiling has a direct and deleterious effectlaw enforcement action, such on law enforcement. It reduces security because itas an arrest or summons for an does not work, it misdirects police resources, andinfringement.it alienates people whose cooperation is necessaryfor effective crime detection.DISPROPORTIONALITYWhen accused of engaging in ethnic profiling,law enforcement officials often respond“Disproportionality” in stopsrefers to the extent to which that they are simply reacting to higher crime andstop powers are being used on offending rates in ethnic minority communities,different ethnic or nationality and that by targeting these persons, places, andgroups in proportion to their offenses, they are engaging in “good policing.”prevalence in the wider society. In other words, they argue that ethnic profilingOdds-ratios, which compare works.measure the odds of beingIn practice, however, there is little evidencestopped if you are an ethnic that profiling is an effective approach to combatingrime. Studies find that stereotypes appear tominority and the odds ofbeing stopped if you are a have greater influence than crime data in drivingofficers’ discretionary decisions. In the UK,non-minority, are one way ofmeasuring disproportionality. self-report surveys find that black and white peoplereport equal levels of drug use. Yet police dataOdds ratios under 1.5 indicatean absence of ethnic profiling; show that black people are stopped by police moreodds ratios between 1.5 and frequently than white people for drug offenses. 462.0 indicate that a bias mightIn fact, when police treat an entire group ofexist; and odds-ratios above 2.0 people as suspicious, they are more likely to missindicate that police are targeting dangerous persons who do not fit the profile.ethnic minorities for stops. Ethnic profiling can be both over-inclusive andunder-inclusive. It is over-inclusive in that most26 ETHNIC PROFILING DEFINED