There is a Difference between Behavioral Profiling and Racial Profiling

I took a college course some years back. At that point, I’d been a police officer for about 3 years. The course centered around the issues of Racial Profiling. It was interesting and also covered the history of racial profiling. The definition of Racial Profiling, according to dictionary.com, is: “the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense.” This article isn’t about statistics or numbers. This article is deeper than that.

In addition to Racial Profiling, I am also going to address a method of police training that had been going on for as long as I can remember: Training Law Enforcement officers to analyze behavior. Before diving into this subject, it is important to cover some terminology and definitions. On a side note, I love it when suspects try to also use this language. These types are called “jailhouse lawyers.” It makes my job so much more fun. Keep in mind, these definitions vary from state to state.

Let’s go over some terminology so you can follow along (Keep in mind, they vary from state to state but are very similar):

• Hunch: An intuition or “gut feeling” about something. An officer’s instincts. This allows the officer to approach and talk to a person. The person doesn’t have to talk to the cop. [Author’s Note: that does not mean if the cop wants to have a nice conversation to make their time go by, you automatically assume you are being targeted. A lot of times, we just talk to people. That’s our nature.]
• Reasonable Suspicion: This is more than a hunch and it involves specific facts that lead an objective police officer to suspect a crime has occurred or will occur.
• Probable Cause: This means, more likely than not, that the suspect has committed or is committing a crime, or evidence will be found in a particular place.

There are many more terms I had to learn in the academy, but these three are important for this discussion.

For example, a police officer is patrolling a neighborhood and observes a subject pacing back and forth at a local park. The officer then observes the subject walk towards a car and conduct a hand-to-hand drug transaction. This goes beyond a hunch and straight to reasonable suspicion right away. This elevates the officer’s ability to stop and detain the two individuals and even to arrest if need be. This is a perfect world scenario that an officer is able to investigate every once in a while.

Notice, I did not add race to this scenario. This was strictly behavior. This was behavior profiling and it takes years to develop. I have over 10 years on this job and am still developing mine. Police cadets or student officers get some exposure in the classroom, but this type of training takes a great deal of time. It is up to individual departments to invest in their officers and send them to quality training.

I’m going to backtrack a little to my racial profiling class. The professor gave me this particular scenario as he knew I was a police officer. A Hispanic male robs a store and flees. He’s wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. He asked me what I would do. I responded by stating that I would look for a Hispanic male wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. The professor responds, “That’s racial profiling.” I disagreed and said that if I get a call from dispatch, telling me who to look for, that’s who I’m looking for. If the store clerk provides me with a description of the robber, I’m going to look for someone that looks like that. I have stopped people that were wearing the same outfits as described by victims and other officers. If they turn out not to be who officers are looking for or if the store owner tells me that’s not the suspect, I let them go on their way with a coke and a smile.

Here is one example of racial profiling that I have seen: Dispatch received a phone call and the caller described a suspicious person walking outside of a strip mall. The dispatcher asked the caller, “ok what makes him suspicious.” The caller states, “well he’s black.” Another example, I received a call from dispatch for what was described as a black male wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans harassing people. So, I made my way to the location and saw someone fitting that profile. Prior to engaging him, I observed him. He was just sitting at the park. I approached him and we had a nice conversation. He was taking a leisurely walk. I left him alone and went about my day. There are two examples of racial profiling. It wasn’t officer initiated; it was the person who called 911 to report it. I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every bogus call that comes in. But the blame is always directed at the police officer. In reality, a lot of the issues stem from people calling the police because of their own biases and prejudices.

I want you to ask yourself, is the problem really “all’ officers? Is it a combination of factors?

I’ve dealt with racist store clerks, racist firemen, and countless others. The difference is that in law enforcement we are entrusted with a huge responsibility of enforcing the laws of that particular state. The saying, “Justice is blind” holds true for a lot of officers. I’d say the majority. The minuscule percent that does not is the problem with law enforcement. They are still human, brought up a certain way, and had different experiences. I’m not excusing them, I am merely pointing out that the profession still has the human element. I only hope that they get weeded out early in a background investigation or early on in their career before they tarnish the badge and what we, the vast majority, stand for.

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This first appeared in The Havok Journal on June 9, 2020.

Ayman Kafel is the founder and owner of Hybrid Wolf Blue Line Strategies, LLC. A veteran-owned training and consulting company for Law Enforcement officers and agencies. He combines his military and law enforcement experience to bring much-needed cutting-edge training to the law enforcement profession. 

Ayman is not only an active police officer but also a law enforcement instructor and has taught across the East Coast of the United States. He offers a wide variety of training, such as advanced patrol tactics, mechanical breaching courses, designated marksman, and Human Performance under duress. 

In addition, Ayman is an Army Combat Veteran who was deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005. He became a police officer in 2007 after 8 years of service in the Army

Ayman has seen the ugliness of war and evil in the world. He survived two civil wars prior to immigrating to the United States in the late eighties.

His current position is the commander of his department’s Problem-Oriented Policing Unit. He leads a team of investigators that employs unconventional methods and Special Forces philosophy in achieving specific objectives in the communities he serves. These unconventional methods range from winning hearts and minds to specific strategic law enforcement actions to arrest and prosecute those who are the root cause of various crimes.

To reach Ayman, feel free to email him at hwbluelinestrategies@gmail.com

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.