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

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UNITED STATESAttitudinal Survey of Young New YorkersThe Polling for Justice project at the City University of New York, recently conductedtwo surveys on the stop, question, and frisk experiences of 1,100 New Yorkers between14 and 21 years old in 2008 and 2009. 173 A group of youth and adult researchersdeveloped the questionnaires and distributed them through their own networks andthose of community organizations. The research was not based on a demographicallyrepresentative random sample but attempted to reflect the racial, ethnic, andsocioeconomic differences among city public high school students across the city’sboroughs.Nearly half of the young people reported having negative interactions with police inthe previous six months. Just 20 percent said they would feel comfortable going tothe police if they needed help. Young people who reported negative experiences withpolice were likely to have had several interactions with the police over the previous sixmonths, with more than 40 percent reporting three or more stops. Among respondentswho reported negative contacts with police, just 31 percent said they feltprotected by police, and only 16 percent said they would turn to police if they were introuble. Twelve percent of the survey participants reported unwanted sexual attentionfrom the police during searches and lesbian, gay, bisexual youth were significantlymore likely to have experienced negative interactions with police (61 percent) thanyoung people who identified as straight (47 percent).Qualitative and Mixed Methodological StudiesQuantitative studies provide a picture of the extent of ethnic profiling and where it ishappening. Qualitative research enables a detailed exploration of police working practices,drawing on subjective experiences and the perceptions of both operational lawenforcement officers and those who are the subject of their operations.The most comprehensive and richest understanding of ethnic profiling will bederived from a mixed-methodological approach that generates a complementary set ofquantitative and qualitative data. Mixed methodologies offer the best means of understandingnot only what is happening (the dimensions of ethnic profiling) but also whyit is happening (the habits and attitudes that underlie profiling).In the United Kingdom, the Home Office’s Policing and Reducing Crime Unitcarried out a series of research studies on stop and search in 2000 The research utilizeda mixed methodology: analyzing stop and search statistics, reviewing existing literature,94 ETHNIC MONITORING AND LAW ENFORCEMENT DATA-GATHERING
conducting interviews with over 90 officers, and 340 hours of observation of operationalpolice officers at work. The results were published in six reports, each focusing on adifferent aspect of stops and searches. 174 The results provide important insights bothinto the impact of stops and searches and into the highly subjective nature of individualofficers’ decision-making processes about whom to stop and search. Interviewswith members of the public illustrated their perceptions and experiences of stop andsearch. Results of two of these reports are summarized in the following case studies,the first casts light on officers’ subjective decision-making, while the second illustratesthe experience of the people stopped by police and public attitudes toward the use ofstop and search.UNITED KINGDOMPolice Stops and “Reasonable Suspicion”The Home Office’s Policing and Reducing Crime Unit carried out a series ofresearch studies on stop-and-search practices in 2000. The results were publishedin six reports, each focusing on a different aspect of stop and search. Researchersconducted interviews with 90 operational officers to explore how officers make thedecision to stop and search people. The results identify a range of factors that informofficers’ suspicion, including the working rules or assumptions that may underpinpolice practice. 175The research showed that officers had vastly different understandings of how to operationalizethe concept of “reasonable suspicion.” Officers’ suspicions were arousedby age, appearance (particularly clothing, such as baseball caps and hooded tops),older cars (which are more likely to have vehicle defects), makes of cars which arecommonly stolen, expensive cars (particularly when driven by ethnic minorities whothey assume would not be able to afford to buy them legitimately), behavior (suchas “checking out cars” or avoiding eye contact), the time and place of the encounter(looking “out of place” in a particular area at a particular time) and information andintelligence (as provided by witness statements or crime reports). The result is greatvariation among officers in their decisions to carry out stops and searches.The report concludes that officers frequently fail to meet the legal threshold of reasonablesuspicion for stops and searches. It also finds that stop-and-search actions areoften focused on persons who have had previous contact with the police, or arebased on officers’ generalizations about people, places, or situations associated withoffending.REDUCING ETHNIC PROFILING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION 95
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OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVERedu
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described in this report. The case
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List of Case StudiesThe case studie
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UNITED KINGDOMAUSTRIA/BELGIUM/BULGA
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UNITED KINGDOMUNITED KINGDOMNETHERL
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The United Nations, the Council of
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I. Ethnic Profiling DefinedA Compre
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The use by the police, with no obje
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explicitly on their membership in a
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of the persons subjected thereto sh
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The impact of ethnic profiling on c
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of the ethnic minorities disproport
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II. A Holistic Approachto Reducing
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Law enforcement agencies are accoun
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III. Legal Standards andInstitution
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Criminal and Administrative Legal R
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ImmigrationThe Equality Act covers
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FRANCEObligation of Non-Discriminat
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General principles of good practice
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Page 117 and 118: UNITED KINGDOM“Know Your Rights
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other characteristics or values. Co
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Take steps to ensure that all parts
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Law enforcement agencies must be se
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A large number of Polish migrants h
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variety of individuals with “life
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UNITED KINGDOMCommunity Stop and Se
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their needs, and problems, and hear
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to travel as far as Liverpool to ac
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The strategy includes multiple init
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The website provides an interactive
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Appendix A:Sample Stop Forms171
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REDUCING ETHNIC PROFILING IN THE EU
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Fuenlabrada, Spain Stop FormREDUCIN
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West Yorkshire Police Stop ReceiptR
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Covenant rights that are especially
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• Necessity: The use of ethnic pr
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The clear risk of arbitrariness in
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The Committee considers that identi
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adopted on June 29, 2007, CRI/Counc
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European Union Fundamental Rights A
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Notes1. Rebekah Delsol, Open Societ
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13. A report of MI5’s behavioral
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38. From the email text sent by Tem
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57. R. Davis and P. Mateu-Gelabert,
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88. Gillan and Quinton v. United Ki
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Ireland). Of the total number of co
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139. For example, European Commissi
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165. Open Society Justice Initiativ
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197. These can be found at: http://
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230. More information can be found
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266. To undertake this kind of anal
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279. In Rosalind Williams, Spanish
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Ethnic profiling by police in Europ
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