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Racial Profiling

By Iain D. Johnston
April 28, 2006

For more than a decade, law enforcement agencies across the country have struggled with allegations of racial profiling. Many of the country's large law enforcement agencies have been sued for alleged racial profiling. These agencies include the California Highway Patrol, the Ohio Highway patrol and the Illinois State Police. The results of these lawsuits have been mixed. Some agencies, such as the Illinois State Police, prevailed, and many other agencies reached settlements. These suits were extremely expensive to litigate, and the settlements were, at times, just as expensive. Regardless of the outcome of the litigation, however, the damage caused by these allegations was massive. The citizens' trust and confidence instilled in these departments, if it existed at all in recent times, was breached. The damage occurred, in large part, because perception is often as important as ' or more important than ' reality. Although the phenomenon of racial profiling undoubtedly exists, all agencies and their personnel become tainted, whether fairly or not, with the stigma resulting from the actions of a few.

Retailers and shopping malls can learn much from the experiences of law enforcement agencies' struggles with the issue of racial profiling. Each year, new suits have been filed against merchants alleging some form of racial profiling. Although the existence of 'shopping while black' may unfortunately not be new to some, the legal consequences of such activities are beginning to make not only headlines but also court opinions. Indeed, in this post-9/11 world, the issue of racial profiling may become inflamed due to the need to increase mall security from terrorist attacks. For example, in 2004, Albuquerque police and mall security at the Coronado Mall allegedly detained eight Muslims because security believed it had 'a bunch of terrorists.' This article sets forth three lessons that retailers and shopping malls should learn from the law enforcement experience.

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