Annual Poll Shows That Most People Believe Racial Profiling By Cops Is Common

Jet, Jan 10, 2000

A majority of Americans, regardless of race, believe that racial profiling--the practice of police stopping people, often ethnic or racial minorities, who fit a profile of a certain type of offender--is widespread in this country, says a new Gallup Poll.

More than four out of 10 Blacks of all ages and both genders said they believe they've been stopped because of their race, said the poll, part of Gallup's annual social audit of Black-White relations. And three-fourths of young Black men say they believe they have been pulled over by police just because they were Black.

"It was very skewed toward young Black men, with 72 percent saying they've been stopped, many of them multiple times," said Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief.

He noted the respondents' belief didn't necessarily mean they were right. But he said, "This has really created an attitudinal rift between Black men and police in today's society."

The Gallup telephone poll of 2,006 people (including 1,001 Blacks) was conducted from September to November of 1999. While a majority of Blacks overall had a favorable opinion of their local police, more than one-third said they have an unfavorable view. Most Black men between 18 and 34 in the poll had a negative view.

The U.S. Justice Department has been working with some local police departments to encourage monitoring of the practice of profiling. Two states, North Carolina and Connecticut, have passed laws requiring police to track the racial and ethnic background of motorists stopped by officers--a measure aimed at monitoring racial profiling. Other state legislatures are considering such measures.