A Justification Paper for the Use of Racial Profiling

Racial profiling, the police practice of stopping and searching of blacks because of their race, in the course of drug-interdiction efforts and combating crime, has become one of the most highly-charged racial issues in America. However, this issue that divides our nation along black and white lines, should not be an issue at all. Racial profiling is nothing more than a sensible police technique where police employ the laws of probability to make the best use of their scarce resources in attacking crime. The trafficking of drugs and weapons, and the effects these items have on the communities they end up in, has become a problem that plagues the nation as a whole. It is for this reason, and the loud cry of the citizens in these communities, that the federal government now funds a $37 billion "War on Drugs" that started during the Reagan presidency. While everyone agrees that drugs and weapons need to be cleaned off the streets of our country, most people seem to disagree that this should come as a result of police officers "playing the odds." …