Blog 17

       Stereotypes can be seen in everyday life and in real world situations.  Even in a professional field, such as law enforcement, stereotypes are present.  Stereotypes can cloud your judgment and cause you to see things in a different perspective.  In this article, Janet Chan gives a professional perspective of racial profiling used by the police. Racial profiling is an issue that most police forces have to deal with.  Whether it is intentional or not, police may use personal bias in their line of work.  This bias may cause them to make assumptions about a group of people before they actually find evidence and jump to conclusions.  Although their intentions may be good, it can cause some groups to feel discriminated.  In the article Racial Profiling in the Police Subculture, the author says, “Over a long period of time, negative experiences such as racial profiling can lead to specific ethnic groups’ losing confidence in the police” (Chan 75).  Although racial profiling can be beneficial at times, it usually creates more problems.  When a group is discriminated and singled out, they begin to feel as though they are being targeted and stop believing in the police.  If a group loses confidence in the police, they will begin to disregard authority and lose respect for them.  Police officers would have a much harder time controlling a community that does not respect them.  This area could then become disorderly, which could affect the rest of the community as well.  Sound criminal profiling can be effective method in law enforcement, but it should not include racial and stereotypical opinions.