RACIAL PROFILING

Figures Don't Show That State Troopers Use Racial Profiling

Figures don't show that state troopers use racial profiling Does
profiling really exist, or is it something the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) wants everyone to believe exists in the
Maryland State Police ("Profiling difficult to pin down," June 28)?

As a trooper for more than 30 years, I never used race to stop any
vehicle and never witnessed or heard rumors of other Maryland
troopers practicing profiling. And the figures do not show
overwhelming searching and stopping of one race. With today's traffic
volume, troopers have all they can handle stopping violators, let
alone looking for a certain race of drivers, often in the dark. I
learned a long time ago, you cannot predict who you will stop from
one traffic stop to another. Maybe what we need is to have an ACLU
member ride with every trooper and tell him what vehicles to stop and
search. If the shooting starts, that person can stick his or her head
in the sand.

Thomas Y. Ingram Crownsville The writer is president of the State
Police Alumni Association Inc.

Racial Profiling Distorts Our Costly War On Drugs

Racial profiling distorts our costly war on drugs Racial profiling is
by no means limited to Maryland ("Profiling difficult to pin down,"
June 28). Government statistics reveal that the drug war is being
waged in a racist manner throughout the nation.

Although only 15 percent of the nation's drug users are black, blacks
account for 37 percent of arrests for drug violations, 42 percent of
those in federal prisons for drug violations and almost 60 percent of
those in state prisons for drug felonies. Racially disproportionate
incarceration rates are not the only cause for alarm. America now
operates the largest prison system in the world, in large part
because of the never-ending drug war. Indeed, our taxes are financing
for-profit prisons that serve to transmit violent habits and values
rather than reduce them. Rather than waste tax dollars turning
potentially productive members of society who use drugs into hardened
criminals, we should fund cost-effective treatment.

Robert Sharpe Washington The writer is an officer of the Lindesmith
Center-Drug Policy Foundation.

Why Not Also Report The Race Of The Criminals?

Our wonderful liberal governor and legislature have seen fit to pass
the "racial profiling" law, which requires the police to record the
race of those they stop in traffic. Why then have they not seen fit
to require the news media to report the race of criminal perpetrators?

J. Knox
Laurel