COLUMN: Racial profiling and a crisis of confidence in police

From Dina Bass', "No Loss for Words," Fall '99 From Dina Bass', "No Loss for Words," Fall '99Jury selection began yesterday for the Abner Louima case. That may not mean much to some students, but as a born-and-bred New Yorker, the name Abner Louima serves as a painful reminder to me of the opening of one the most depressing chapters in New York City Police history. Abner Louima is a Haitian immigrant who was beaten in a patrol car while being taken to Brooklyn's 70th precinct station. Once there, he was again beaten in the station's bathroom and viciously sodomized with a pole, an attack that required him to undergo a colostomy and spend two months in the hospital. The officers, who were white, yelled racial slurs at Louima, telling him that black former New York City Mayor David Dinkins was no longer in charge and that it was "Giuliani time." The highly publicized attack reminded Americans that not all of our cops are interested in keeping the peace. There are racist cops, there are cops who get off on violence and power and there are poorly trained cops. Unfortunately for Abner Louima, the cops who took him down to the station were all three. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the crisis of confidence in our police didn't stop there. Even Penn is not safe from charges of racial profiling. Medical School employee Larry Ray has charged that University Police stopped him while investigating a local robbery simply because he is black (although that accusation does not justify Ray's alleged assault of the officers). Last month Amadou Diallo, a black New Yorker, was shot by four officers who believed he was reaching for a gun. The officers fired 41 times at the unarmed Diallo, hitting him 19 times and killing him instantly. New Yorkers from all walks of life -- black, Latino, Jewish -- were outraged at the senseless killing. The resulting protests brought to light other incidents of racism in local police departments. Complaints arose about what has come to be termed racial profiling on the New Jersey Turnpike, where cops pull over, frisk and generally harass many more minority drivers than white drivers. Many politicians from President Clinton on down suggest that part of the problem is a dearth of minority cops. As a result the officers deployed in minority neighborhoods are mostly white. More black cops in Harlem or Latino cops in Washington Heights would solve the problem, they argue. Recruiting more minority cops may eventually force police officers to be more careful in their treatment of minority suspects or cause police chiefs and superiors to abandon the policy of looking the other way that pervades many precincts. But it won't stop racist cops and it won't change the code of silence that often operates in police departments. Cities must demand that their police departments react strongly to police misconduct. Cops who engage in racist behavior or who have records of police brutality must be removed from the force and face charges if warranted, not suspended or given a slap on the wrist. Removal and stiffer jail sentences should be handed out to upper-level cops who ignore brutality and racism in their ranks, for example New York's Sgt. Michael Bellomo, a superior of the four officers who allegedly beat Louima, who is accused of covering up the attacks. At the same time, we all should pledge to examine the stereotypes and prejudices that lead many of us to engage in racial profiling. Recently, an African-American professor in the College told his class that when he doesn't wear a suit to work he fears people mistake him for the janitor. An exaggeration perhaps, but many of us do judge members of minority groups based on their appearance. Racial profiling is something nearly everyone does, from becoming uneasy passing a black or Latino man on a quiet street or late at night to assuming the black man in sweats walking around Bennett Hall must be there to clean the floors. No one is arguing against being street smart or even being overly cautious. It is just prejudicial, not to mention pretty dangerous, to save your caution for people of color.