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An essay about police being cruel and using their power to over throw. ...

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Police Officers Abuse Their Power Racial profiling is an act that one commits to judge someone based on their appearance. Over several years, there has been many situations about authority using “Stop and frisk” which is another way of racial profiling. Based on American history, police officers have been targeting African American and Hispanics because of the way they look. There have been several cases where people are being stopped because of assumptions that the authority makes. Most of the time they are seen to be innocent. Two articles that talk about racial profiling are Jim Crow Policing and Racial Discrimination in Stop and Frisk. These articles go in depth with the problem of police officers using “Stop and Frisk” to target those who they believe have done something wrong. The similarities that both articles give us is the way the police officers abuse the way of using “Stop and Frisk”. Bob Herbert in the opinion article, Jim Crow Policing, asserts that police officers are feeling no obligation to treat anyone fairly or with respect. Those being targeted the most are the African Americans and Hispanics. Herbert supports his argument by giving us real statistics from the New York City Police Department of the total number of people who were stopped and frisked by the police in 2009. Herbert says, “an overwhelming 84 percent of the stops in the first three quarters of 2009 were black and Hispanic New Yorkers. It is incredible how few of the stops yielded any law enforcement benefit. Contraband, which usually means drugs, was found in only 1.6 percent of the stops of black New Yorkers. For Hispanics, it was just 1.5 percent. For whites, who are stopped far less frequently, contraband was found 2.2 percent of the time” (Herbert). The data shows that although officers assume Hispanics and African Americans are

the ones breaking the law they are judging by appearance and not targeting those who are really committing the crime. The author’s purpose is to let others be aware of the policy so that New York can demand a change. To continue, in the opinion editorial article, Racial Discrimination in Stop and Frisk, tells us that the stop and frisk program has violated the constitutional rights of the citizens. Those whose opinions were mentioned explain the opinion of Judge Shira Scheindlin of Federal District in New York who believes the Stop and Frisk has caused chaos and unfairly treatment to many. Scheindlin supports her position by arguing that “officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner. In their zeal to defend a policy that they believe to be effective, they have willfully ignored overwhelming proof that the policy of singling out the right people is racially discriminatory and therefore violates the United States Constitution” (Scheindlin). Judge mentions she won't be striking down the program but will require the city to use the tool in a way where the police officers do not discriminate against African Americans and Hispanics. Also, to have the officers be taught the right way to stop people which is when they have real evidence that they have broken the law. In comparison, both articles tell us about the use of “Stop and Frisk” done by police officers in an unfair manner. There are several similarities between both articles. The first similarities that both articles discuss is the way officers use racial profiling to target who they assume has done a crime. The race who have been targeted the most are African Americans and Hispanics. In both readings they discuss the way the police officers abuse their power. Another similarities would be the statistics given. Both writers tell us real life data of those who are being targeted and who aren’t targetted but should be. In both statistics the ones being accused of committing a crime are Hispanics and African Americans but what makes the data interesting is

that Whites are the ones breaking the law the most. In the article Jim Crow Policing it says, “Blacks and Hispanics stopped have similar percentages of drugs/gun use; whites have a slightly higher use” (Herbert). Herbert tells us that although whites aren’t being assumed of doing anything wrong they are the ones doing the most. There have been arguments about the way police officers use racial profiling. Both readings argue that police officers should not harass individuals from a group when there is no indication. Those assumptions that police officers make against African Americans and Hispanics are flawed. As evidence, “the reason it is flawed is because the stopped population is overwhelming innocent and not criminal” (Scheindlin). Although police officers assume, the real data says it all where as the ones breaking the law aren’t the ones who the authority believes is the problem. To conclude, “Stop and Frisk” is another way of racial profiling. As shown from the acts of New York Police Department the authority takes advantage of the police to overthrow others. Police officers need to be taught the right way on how to use Stop and Frisk by not discriminating. In other words, not to abuse the Fourth Amendment which says, “police officers can legally stop and detain a person only when they have a reasonable suspicion that the person is committing, has committed or is about to commit a crime”. Police officers who stop anyone can not just stop people based on appearance. Their stops have to be based on their crime. To avoid this situation, there has to be set of Police Department policies, training, supervision, and discipline on stop and frisk....