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The
issue of racial profiling is not going away. Since this topic has attracted
the attention of so many jurisdictions and lawmakers, it is likely to
change the way law enforcement will be conducted, as did that of the Miranda
laws. It is society’s hope that law enforcement will be better off
because of these changes.
Our
system of justice has withstood the test of wars, famine and civil unrest,
with September 11, 2001, being the toughest test of all. Before 9/11,
bias-based traffic enforcement was just plain wrong.
Fighting crime and
eliminating traffic fatalities and injuries are law enforcement’s
main concerns. But we cannot take away freedoms of the innocent in trying
to find the guilty and yet proclaim to be “the Land of the Free.”
As law enforcement, we must identify ways to enforce the law without unwarranted
interference. We have to find ways to allow people to live with the right
to be treated equally before the law, without regard to race, ethnicity,
or any other physical characteristic.
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Conclusion