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

Reducing Ethnic Profiling and Improving PoliceEfficiency Through Collecting and Monitoring DataGathering ethnic statistics on police use of stop-and-search powers makes it possible tomonitor how effectively police use these powers. When police supervisors use stop formsto make sure that officers are basing their stops on reasonable suspicion rather thanethnic stereotypes, officers respond by using their powers more sparingly, more fairly,and more effectively. The use of stop forms has directly supported increased hit rates invaried contexts. In short, the use of ethnic data to monitor officers’ performance reducestheir individual discretion and pushes them to rely on indicators of suspicion—ratherthan superficial appearance—in deciding whom to stop. This shift leads to increasedpolice efficiency, as the following comparative case study indicates. These results canonly be achieved when police managers and supervisors buy in to the value of stop forms;in other circumstances, high rates of disproportionality can persist despite the use of stopforms as can be seen in the UK, where practices have varied widely between policingdistricts and over time despite the use of nationally mandated stop forms.HUNGARY AND SPAINReducing Ethnic Profiling through the Introduction of Stop FormsIn January 2007, the Open Society Justice Initiative worked with police forces andcivil society groups in Hungary and Spain to monitor police use of stops. The Strategiesfor Effective Police Stop and Search (STEPSS) project assessed existing policyand practice, designed forms and operational guidance for recording stops, trainedofficers and community members in their use, and collected stop data for six monthsin pilot sites in each country. (Please see Appendix A for the Hungarian stop form.)Local community consultation groups worked closely with police throughout.The stop data showed that police in every country were engaged in ethnic profiling:stopping and searching persons of ethnic minority and immigrant origin at disproportionaterates. Minorities and immigrants were more likely to be stopped, oftenmore likely to be searched, but, almost without exception, were no more likely to befound to be offending than the majority group. In some cases, they were far less likelyto be offending than ethnic majority residents.In Hungary, Roma were three times more likely to be stopped by police thannon-Roma, but the rate at which Roma and non-Roma were detected in the commissionof an offense was almost identical. The stop data clearly showed that Hungarian82 ETHNIC MONITORING AND LAW ENFORCEMENT DATA-GATHERING