Flashback - Profiling

Long time readers of the blog will remember back in July, during the height of the reverend Meeks incident, we wrote a large number of threads about the entire incident taking everyone and their brother to task (go to our July archives, start around the 15th and scroll upwards). We also saw that the mayor is home from his little Middle East jaunt and we hope he brought us some new and wondrous policing ideas as he has on so many of his other forays (the better to call it "business" and get the taxpayers to pay for it). You will recall that the camera idea was picked up on trips to Europe, was it not?

Here's a little policing tip we hope the mayor introduces in the coming weeks or months. We referenced it way back on 02 August 05 in a post we titled "A dirty little secret." It is perhaps the DIRTIEST little secret in all of policing:

Profiling Works

Let's pause for a moment to let the screams from our more liberal minded readers die down for a bit. Are they done yet? We still hear some dogs barking. There we go. Take a breath people. Here's some more sacrilege - Profiling has ALWAYS worked. In it's simplest form, it's a matter of seeing something that doesn't fit the surroundings. And reality being what it is, race sometimes comes into it. Chicago is still among the most segregated cities in the nation. Therefore, it stands to reason that a white guy in a black neighborhood MIGHT be there to buy drugs. A black guy in a hispanic part of town MIGHT be there to do garage burglaries. A hispanic guy in a white neighborhood MIGHT be there to do a drive by. Your good coppers - your truly great street guys - can go beyond the initial visual anomaly and make some truly spectacular arrests.

• Run the plate - is it from the neighborhood? Is it hot? Is it on the right type of car?
• Visual clues - is the subject a "fit" for the area? Financially? Is he/she wearing expensive clothes in a rundown part of town? Are they carrying a pillowcase in an alley?
  
• Physical appearances - Hypes? Health nuts? Holding their side? Eyeballing everyone else? Eyeballing nothing at all?

The list goes on and on, but what cops should be looking for is the "totality of the circumstances" which as we all should know, is a polite way of saying "profiling." NOT RACIAL PROFILING. Criminal profiling. Even some civilians can do it - but WE are supposed to do it. Being able to put 2 and 2 together has led to a lot of crimes being solved or prevented. Being able to put it down on paper and selling it to a State's Attorney or a jury is what makes it great.

Which is why this recent push to combat nonexistent racial profiling isn't just a waste of time and money. It's plain dumb.