NCJ Number
190852
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 68 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2001 Pages: 16-18,20,21
Date Published
July 2001
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes Ohio's statewide effort to end profiling.
Abstract
Racial profiling, particularly in connection with traffic stops, threatens to retard progress in police-community relations and to inhibit police departments from taking a proactive role in traffic enforcement. The Law Enforcement Foundation of Ohio recently began a statewide effort to develop and implement policy and training initiatives to end profiling both as a fact and as a perception. The new sample policy prohibits illegal profiling, that is the "unequal treatment of any person ... on the basis of their racial or ethnic characteristics, gender, or sexual orientation." It also requires departments to train their officers in this subject and provide supervisory oversight, to create a workable citizen complaint process, establish constructive disciplinary procedures, and recognize a responsibility to provide relevant information to the public. The new training program has learning objectives in five broad categories: (1) value of traffic stops to highway safety and crime prevention; (2) legal and constitutional issues; (3) interactions between officers and motorists; (4) officer safety; and (5) detecting evidence of other criminal activity, during traffic stops. The article contains a copy of the Ohio Law Enforcement Model Guideline [for] Professional Traffic Stops.