POLL: 3 OUT OF 4 BLACK MALES SAY THEY WERE RACE PROFILING TARGETS

WASHINGTON -- Johnny Robinson says he had finished a long day at his
barbershop and had just pulled his car onto the road home when he was
stopped by a policeman and told that he looked "suspicious."

The 57-year-old black barber from Spartanburg, S.C., believes the
police stop, which did not result in a ticket or arrest, was motivated
by his color -- a practice called racial profiling.

"It really burned me up," Robinson said.

He's not alone in seeing a pattern.

A majority of Americans, regardless of their race, believe that racial
profiling is widespread in this country, according to a Gallup poll.
And three-fourths of young black men in the poll say they believe they
have been pulled over just because they are black.

Poll respondents had such a practice described -- "It has been
reported that police officers stop motorists of certain racial or
ethnic groups because they believe that these groups are more likely
than others to commit certain types of crimes" -- and then were asked
what they thought.

More than four out of 10 blacks of all ages and both genders said they
believe they've been stopped because of their race, said the poll,
part of Gallup's annual social audit of black-white relations.

"It was very skewed toward young black men, with 72 percent saying
they've been stopped, many of them multiple times," Frank Newport,
Gallup's editor in chief, said.

He noted the respondents' belief didn't necessarily mean they were
right. But he said, "This has really created an attitudinal rift
between black men and police in today's society."

While a majority of blacks overall have a favorable opinion of their
local police, more than a third say they have an unfavorable view.
Most black men between 18 and 34 in the poll had a negative view.

"I hear it all the time," Robinson said. "If you have a nice car, they
pull you over and think you're selling drugs. They don't think a black
man can work and have enough money for a nice car."

Spartanburg police are expressly told not to engage in racial
profiling, said A. Tony Fisher, the city's director of public safety.

"If an officer stops someone and has no articulable reason for
stopping them, we most likely will discipline them," said Fisher, a
veteran black officer who has headed the Spartanburg force for more
than four years.

"As an African-American with children and many relatives, I find that
someone can always tell you a story that suggests they were stopped
for that reason," Fisher said. "Is it totally out of control? I think
not.

"Some of the paranoia exists," he said, "which makes it very hard for
the good, well-meaning officers who are trying to do their job in a
fair and equitable way."

The Justice Department's civil-rights division has been working with
some police departments around the country to encourage monitoring of
the practice.

Two states, North Carolina and Connecticut, have passed laws requiring
police to track the racial and ethnic background of all motorists
stopped by officers -- a measure aimed at monitoring the practice of
profiling. Other state legislatures are considering such measures.

The Gallup telephone poll of 2,006 people (including 1,001 blacks) was
conducted from Sept. 24 to Nov. 16 and has an error margin of plus or
minus 4 percentage points, larger for subgroups.

Differing treatment of blacks by authorities helps create the
perception that blacks are more prone to commit crimes, said William
Spriggs, director of research and public policy for the Urban League.

"This is stereotyping run amok," Spriggs said. "The problem is
magnified because of their attitude once they stop you. It's not just
being irritated, but the fear. Many people feel that they are
indiscriminate about doing it."

How does Johnny Robinson feel?

"The advice I give people if it ever happens to them is to be cool,"
he said. He didn't file a complaint when he was stopped five years
ago.

"I was really tired, and I just wanted to get home," he said. "It was
a young, rookie cop, so I just let it ride."