MOST AMERICANS IN POLL CALL PROFILING WIDESPREAD

Young blacks particularly say police stops made on racial basis, Gallup
finds; "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."

Johnny Robinson,57-year-old black barber from Spartanburg, S.C.

WASHINGTON -(AP)- 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 police officer and was told that he looked "suspicious."

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

"It really burned me up," said Robinson.

A majority of Americans, of varied races, believe that racial profiling is
widespread in this country, says a new Gallup poll. Three-fourths of young
black men in the poll say they believe that they have been pulled over
because they are black.

Poll Question

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 that 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 that 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."

Views of Local Officers

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," said Robinson. "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," said Spriggs. "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."

'Be Cool'

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."