Profiling vs Stereotyping – There is a difference | Eastern North Carolina Now

Updated March 20, 2018-- 6:00AM

The recent bombings in Texas have left the law enforcement agencies at a loss on how to track down the bomber.  It appears that they have little to go on.  I saw a news report last night that indicated they were having a problem with creating a profile of the bomber.  That is because he apparently has not made a declarative statement on social media, he has not tweeted any warnings and he has not indicated any demand for anything.  It kind of reminded me of those days before digital media and surveillance cameras when Joe Friday and his partner (Officer Frank Smith and later Officer Bill Gannon) had to search for the bad guys with shoe leather and hunches.   Hopefully perhaps a few FBI agents will be assigned to this case instead of reading or leaking emails.  It seems to me that this type of crime is more urgent than who talked to who almost two years ago. I am not advocating no investigation of the "Collusion Affair" but perhaps we should put some of these ongoing investigations in a different perspective and direct our efforts to solving current problems. I am not sure this post is relevant to the current situation in Texas but but it does point up the necessity for us to put enough trained resources to identify suspects. I suggest that violent crimes deserve more forensic examination than emails and memos.


Profiling vs Stereotyping – There is a difference

This is an example of Stereotyping
Stereotype This Snake is dangerous
Black Rat Snake
The Black Rat snake is generally considered as beneficial and not dangerous.
This is an example of Profiling
Profile This Snake is dangerous
Rattlesnake
The rattlesnake is a very venomous and dangerous snake.

Lumping all snakes into the Dangerous category is a perfect example of stereotyping without noticing the nuance of the subject.

 

    I was profiled as an "Enemy" few times in my life for just walking around in green fatigues and carrying a loaded rifle. It was an accurate assessment.

    I was also stereotyped as a "Baby Killer" for walking around the San Francisco Airport in a Dress Green Uniform and not carrying any weapons. It was not an accurate assessment and it would have pissed me off if I were not so shocked.

    I do not pretend to equate that experience forty seven years ago with the modern day equivalent of "Driving While Black". Both practices are abusive and wrong. DWB when used as a basis for a traffic stop without any indication that a law has been broken is without a doubt out of bounds.

    If a man unpacks his gun and announces he is going to rob a grocery store and shoot everyone in the store, do we have to wait for him to leave the store with the money before we act? How would we describe him to the police if wanted to give enough information to select him in public? "He or she is an upright walking, homosapien who appears to be a male dressed in normal street clothes". Keep an eye out you cannot miss him.

    We somehow have convoluted the difference between prevention and prosecution to the point that we must wait for the law to be broken to take action for fear of offending or appearing to be prejudiced.

    This whole movement against profiling has taken on a landslide toward stupidity. The entire profession of psychology is based on profiling. Profiling should be a narrow application of specific commonalities with succeeding smaller levels of subdivision. It is a filter through which we sift human traits to arrive at a reasonable classificatoin.

    Profiling is an inverted pyramid with the top section being Humans progressing through a series of filters until you reach a narrow and detailed outline. It is not without error but it does provide some assurance that we are not operating on prejudice.

    Stereotyping is the mis-application of a specific profile based on a broad unrestricted description and is too broad to be of any benefit for prevention of crimes or identifying any class of people.

    It is the duty of our law enforcement to train and reinforce the proper use of profiling vs stereotyping. I will be the first to admit that many law officers fail badly in that respect. That does not negate the need to profile a very specific type of lawbreaker to hopefully prevent actions rather than react to them.

    When Elliott Ness was in the process of trying to infiltrate the Mafia, he resorted to profiling. He did not look for Eskimos under every bench. He also did not start looking just for Italians, they were included in the profile but were a part of a much more specific profile. He followed the money and booze. Later in life he had his own troubles with excesses which is often the case once a person gains power and control

    If you have ever listened to a police scanner, you will hear an example of proper and improper use of descriptive terms. Most speeders are identified by the make, model and color of the auto they are driving. And on occasion you will here an epitah uttered based on personal prejudice.

    I am a if full support of protecting civil liberties wherever possible. I also think I have made it clear before that I do not trust the government to run roughshod over our rights in the pursuit of terrorist. However, I think that a focused and detailed profile would go a long way in identifying possible terrorist and possibly preventing them from taking action. I understand that no method will stop the lone crazy from slipping through the system.

    In my opinion protecting civil liberties does not prevent the review of the public domain of Facebook, Twitter, BCN, Blogs, coffee house discussion in public and etc. The government is gathering information on us all the time using what we ourselves provide them freely for anyone interested to read or hear. I repeat, I have grave concerns about allowing the government having access to my private emails, conversations, bank records etc. without some due process, but they are free to review and access any public expressions where I have no legitimate expectation of privacy. If they need to see the private information mentioned above they should convince a Judge of the legitimate need. My preference would be a three member panel of judges to prevent a rubber stamp warrant. I am not trained in the law and may be in error on the specifics of what is and what is not legal and I am prepared to be corrected.

    We must trust the training and professionalism of law enforcement personnel to separate the wheat from the chaff. If there are excesses, then there are also legal remedies to correct or punish overly excessive actions. I am not sufficiently trained to distinguish the nuances of real threats from overly bombastic speech. Otherwise I may report people for simple humorous statements about throwing people into a wood chipper which I have read numerous time here. One thing I do believe is that we cannot second guess every move or step of our law enforcement agents. How would you like it if every movement in your job was recorded with the potential for prosecution if you should inadvertently make a mistake in procedure?


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