How can you prove that you have been racial profiled by police?

Answer 1

Proving racial profiling by police is very difficult. First, you would have to prove that the officer knew you were of a different race when he/she detained/arrested you, and second, you would have to prove that the actions they took were based on your race alone, and not on your actions.

If you really wanted to try to prove that an individual officer was racist, or taking undue or excessive actions against people because of their race, you would have to look at statistics of their arrests, contacts, tickets, etc., and see just who the officer contacts. Next you'd have to eliminate officers who police areas that are heavily populated by minorities. (A white officer in a black or Muslim neighborhood would only have blacks or Muslims to contact.) You would also have to look at what actions the officer took after the contact was made. Is the officer allowing whites (or blacks or Hispanics) off with only a warning, while people of other races always get tickets or arrested? Look at an officer's uses of force: are they always justified? Who does he/she typically use force against? (Again you have to eliminate neighborhoods that are predominantly of one culture or race.)

Is an entire agency guilty of racial profiling? Apply the same questions to the agency as a whole. Ask: Does the agency teach officers how not to racially profile? Teach them to respect other cultures? Hold officers accountable for behaving appropriately when policing minorities?

Unfortunately, in my experience, complaints of racial profiling are usually just complaints that the officer made me do something I didn't want to do, or stopped me from doing something I wanted to do and I am throwing out the race card without seriously looking at whether I broke the law.