Police brutality against minorities is a growing issue in our nation today and needs a solution. While men and women of minorities are being beaten, there are many citizens who may remain unaware of this problem. There are many different studies and multiple different methods proposed to help this problem. One of which is more in depth training in order to combat any emotional out-lashes and better psychological evaluations in order to be proactive in catching any mental illnesses that could cause a physical out-lash towards a minority. 

            Racial profiling is a growing problem in today’s society for multiple different people. Many people struggle with the definition of racial profiling.  According  to the ACLU, racial profiling is “the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” (ACLU.org). Racial profiling has been a long standing problem in our nation despite claims from some who say that racism is a thing of the past. Racial profiling should offend every citizen of the United States, as it is not only illegal but it violates the US constitution guaranteeing equal protection under the law to everyone.

            Racial profiling affects many different ethnic and culturally diverse groups of people. From undocumented immigrants, to Muslims, to Native Americans, to African Americans, racial profiling has led these groups of people to live in fear of the police. Certain policies have been enacted by the US government that has made it easy and more accepted to target communities of color in the interest of public safety. In addition, “anti immigrant rhetoric has led to a dramatic increase against and racial profiling of Latinos” (ACLU.org). It’s become all too common for people of color to be stopped walking or driving while black or brown. 

            There are many different ideas on how to overcome racial profiling and bias in law enforcement. In the 2019 book titled “Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think and Do,” author Jennifer Eberhardt writes “a lot of police departments have implicit-biased trainings. These trainings have focused on informing people about bias. Instead we need to be focused on changing the conditions that promote the bias” (Eberhardt). Just acknowledging racial profiling and racial bias is not enough. We must hold law enforcement accountable and to a higher standard. Police need to ask themselves why am I considering pulling this person over? Do I have an intuition about this person? In 2017 Oakland police officers made approximately 32,000 stops. In 2018, with the addition of those questions, they made 19,000 stops. African America stops fell by over 43% (Eberhardt). 

            One way to possibly combat racial profiling by police forces is additional and continuous training. In August of 2019 CBS News contacted more than 150 police departments across the country 69% reported that they have racial bias training but that it was not added until there was an incident. On average, this training is eight hours once every two to five years (CBS News.com). This amount of training is not nearly enough. They need to be trained at least yearly on things such as de-escalation and cultural sensitivity. There is much research by psychologists pinpointing the factors leading to overly aggressive biased policing. Many of the interventions that can prevent these things from happening are psychologically based (APA Abrams ). We must build back trust in our communities of color that has been torn down due to use of excessive force. There is also an effort to cut down on high adrenaline encounters, where police officers are more likely to rely on stereotypes. 

            One of the best ways to address and reduce violence among police is known as Project ABLE,  or Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (APA, Abrams). These programs try to promote not only peer intervention but also community policing. The use of cellphone cameras has been quite effective when it comes to holding officers accountable. If another officer or civilian steps in, even verbally, it tends to remind the officer to use less excessive means. 

            Research shows that police are more likely to display racial bias when they conduct a high discretion search versus a low discretion search this means when someone is stopped solely on the gut feeling of the officer it is more likely to be a display of racial bias for instance, the California highway patrol banned high discretion searches racial disparities began to level off (APA Abrams). 

            Screening of law enforcement candidates must be more rigorous. Departments need to add cultural confidence when interviewing police officers. Studies show that some personality dimensions can help officers temper those biases (APA Abrams). What this means is people with emotional regulation skills are better able to prevent these biases from affecting them on the job. It’s also helpful if they have the ability to anticipate how others will behave based on actions and tone of voice. 

            It is very important to weed out individuals in law enforcement that have a habit of not only using excessive force but using it with racial bias. There needs to be a comprehensive national data base on police incidents. Also, the ability for law enforcement officers to be able to tell when someone is having a mental health crisis is imperative. There needs to be a benchmark and standardization when it comes to the definition of racial bias. 

When it comes to the issue of police brutality and misconduct there has to be change. Multiple events all over this country have caused mistrust from minorities and have resulted in many deaths. Each of these cases should be a fighting point towards change in the police departments all over the United States. There has been multiple researchers and experts attempting to find different ways to stop this, to reduce the amount of minorities that have lost trust in the people that are hired to protect them. By giving better mental health evaluations before hiring police officers and by providing continuous training this social epidemic can be reigned in before it spirals any further.