POLICE GROUP WORKS TO END PROFILING

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- As a black man, Ronald Davis believes he was once
stopped by police simply because he was a minority driving a Mercedes-Benz.
But as an undercover police officer, he has stopped young men on suspicion
of drug-dealing because they wore baggy jeans, carried pagers -- and were
black.

Now Davis, the sole black captain in the Oakland police force, is leading
an effort by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
to end racial profiling -- even in a changing political climate.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have added a new wrinkle to the racial
profiling debate, with Middle Easterners raising concerns they have become
targets. There are also indications that frightened Americans might be more
willing to accept profiling in the name of national security.

A nationwide CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll conducted the weekend after the
attacks found 58 percent of Americans would support requiring Arabs,
including those who are U.S. citizens, to undergo more intensive security
checks before boarding airplanes.

But the black law enforcement group, 9,000 members strong, isn't changing
its stance. It still believes no matter which race is targeted, racial
profiling is wrong, Davis said.

"We have a personal stake in it," Davis said. "I wear the badge. I've done
car stops."

At the same time, when black officers take off their uniforms and are
pulled over because of their race, "it's a dose of reality," he said. "When
we get off duty, we are still African-Americans."

The cornerstone of the police group's efforts are training sessions, which
began in January.

So far, the Alexandria, Va.-based group has conducted 15 sessions for
officers of all races, including one meeting this week in Cincinnati, a
city where three nights of rioting ensued after a white police officer
fatally shot an unarmed black man this spring. A judge acquitted the
officer of misdemeanor charges last month.

Racial profiling happens when officers allow biases to seep into policing,
Davis said.

The black officers' group believes the problem should be attacked by
emphasizing community service and supervisor accountability. It also wants
more training for officers on when it's appropriate to use force.

Members of the group say they know what it's like to be profiled.

Davis remembers driving his fiancee's Mercedes in downtown Long Beach,
Calif., a few years ago, looking for a restaurant. He passed a white
policeman, who cut short a conversation and pulled Davis over, probably
because "we didn't fit the Mercedes-Benz," Davis said.

"You feel very violated, very offended," Davis said. The indignity was
worse because "these are my colleagues" who were doing the profiling, he said.

Jerry Oliver, police chief in Richmond, Va., recalls being stopped by his
own officers when he was new to the city. They asked for his driver's
license, but were reluctant to say why they stopped him.

"The only reason why I was stopped is because I live in an area that's
predominantly white," Oliver said.

Occasionally, racial profiling is also used on white people in minority
neighborhoods, police say.

When he was a police officer in Arizona, Oliver said he stopped a white
person in a black and Korean neighborhood late at night. Oliver said he
didn't know whether the person was lost, or perhaps seeking a prostitute.

"I didn't have any other information," he said. "But I did approach them
purely because of their race, because they were white and they looked out
of place."

In Oakland, Davis admits he's made similar stops.

"I'm not a racist," Davis said. But "I still applied my own stereotypes. At
the time you're engaged in this activity you're really thinking you're
doing the right thing."

Links related to this article: National Organization of Black Law
Enforcement Executives: www.noblenatl.org/