Racial profiling is a law enforcement strategy that encourages police officers to stop and question African Americans simply because of their race. Although not raised as a major issue in the courtroom during the trial of the four police officers who shot Amadou Diallo (who were acquitted in February), racial profiling is often employed by police, officially and unofficially, and was likely a factor in the police shooting of Diallo.

Racial profiling took off during the highly publicized explosion of crack cocaine in inner-city neighborhoods in the 1980s, which bolstered the perception of drugs as a black problem -- even though statistics showed most cocaine users were white. Drug enforcement agencies began using racial profiling to "sweep" neighborhoods and in arresting disproportionate numbers of African Americans for drug related offenses.

A profile of potential drug users and sellers was developed to assist policemen in picking out and questioning likely offenders. These profiles continue to be used by law enforcement in combating crime.

There are some statistics that need to be examined while discussing racial profiling. Between 1992 and 1996, 58 percent of all car jackers were african american. African Americans only make up 12 percent of the population. African American make up 13 percent of the country's drug users. 74 percent of all criminals sentenced to prison for drug possession are african american (Carrilli). It is human nature for a police officer to want to search a suspicious character. The statistics prove that blacks tend to be involved in more suspicious activity then many of the other races.

Enforcement", Speakout.com, April 20 2000.

To try and deal with the racial profiling problem, Governor Whitman and Col. Dumbar have come up with a plan to diversify the pool of candidates of state police. New Jersey and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a class of unhired trooper applicants have settled a four-year-old lawsuit against the State Police by agreeing to a plan to emphasize both stringent educational standards and the need for diversity in the ranks. According to the agreement, signed by the State and both the national NAACP and its New Jersey Chapter, State Police has made a commitment to aggressively recruit a diverse pool of qualified applicants to take the written trooper qualification test.

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