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Summary and Response Essay Summary: In â€Å"You Have the Right to Remain a Target of Racial Profiling,† syndicated columnist Eugene Robinson tries to impress upon his readers that racial profiling is still utilized by today’s police force. Mr. Robinson utilizes statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, to make his point. These statistics are taken from the Federal criminal justice system. Based on these statistics, he states that minorities (primarily blacks) are at least twice as likely to have their vehicle searched on a routine traffic stop. Mr. Robinson further points out the fact that minorities are statistically more likely to receive a citation, where whites are more likely to receive a verbal warning. Finally, Mr. Robinson makes the statement that if all individuals pulled over were searched equally that police would uncover evidence of tens of thousands more crimes annually. This statement is not supported by Bureau of Justice Statistics, as is the rest of the article, but is strictly conjecture. Response: Your article titled, â€Å"You Have the Right to Remain a Target of Racial Profiling,† is a compelling argument that racial profiling still exists and is being used in our â€Å"Federal† police force. I emphasize â€Å"Federal† since the statistics you use are only gathered from Federal cases. You infer, through omission, that these statistics support all traffic violations. I must confess that I agree that it exists on some level everywhere, but not that it’s as ubiquitous as you claim. Profiling is nothing more than a compilation of words like determine, assess, judge, weigh, evaluate, etc. All are used to statistically determine a predictable manner. You erroneously use the term Racial Profiling when the statistics more accurately suggest the use of the approved profiling method called Offender Profiling. We, as a societ y, empower our police with the authority to do offender profiling in service to the public. I certainly don’t want to impede on an officers judgment, to conduct a search, based on your claims that it’s not done uniformly. Do you want to be solely responsible for coming up with a list of traffic stop DO’s and DON’Ts for officers? Remember, you would be held accountable for any adverse situations that come as a result. I can’t help but detect some underlying accusations of racism in your column. In your claims you simplify things down to the numbers, in an effort to appear objective, but your math seems to be in error. The Federal Bureau of Statistics doesn’t account for the extenuating circumstances associated with the traffic stops you cite. Each traffic stop is an individual case that must be handled accordingly. It can’t be boiled down to simple math. Both parties are equally responsible for their conduct during a traffic stop. You fairly admit that blacks are less willing to concede they have been caught dead to rights in a traffic stop, but seem to exonerate their admitted cynical behavior. You want to hold the officer responsible for not only himself, but the actions of the offender as well. Fair is fair, you can’t responsibly make accusations based on half facts and obviously biased conjecture. That type of rhetoric is designed to inflame racial prejudices rather than express umbrage about an unfair process. I wonder what you were really trying to say, and what ulterior motives you have.