Personal experience with law enforcement

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Personal Experience with Law Enforcement
What Happened
In the recent past, I experienced the incidents of racial profiling from the police officers. In one instance, I accompanied my cousin as he drove from home to the workplace at about eight o’clock in the morning. His car was Mercedes Benz, which was a stylish vehicle. He was driving down the street, and the police officers stopped us. The police officer approached us, and he began telling me that he believes the car was stolen. I was surprised, and I was forced to ask myself why he had such thoughts. I had no doubt in my mind that my cousin owned the car, as I was involved in the car purchase.
I started wondering whether the license was fraudulent during the purchase. Similarly, I also questioned whether the car and the license plate were matching. Importantly, I was searching for some coherent cause that may have forced the police officer to stop my cousin on the roadside. He commanded my driver to produce the documentation to prove his ownership of the vehicle. After he was supplied with the car ownership documents, the officer demanded our identity cards (ID). Unfortunately, we had not carried our IDs. He continued to interrogate us on where we live and where we were headed. We told him that we were very sorry that we did not carry our IDs but we will remember to do so next time. He was not satisfied with our responses, and we were forced to be frisked. The police officer told us that we must always carry our IDs with us but then allowed us to go on with our journey.

What I Think about It
Racial profiling among people of color in the United States is a major challenge. Most of the African Americans report unfair treatment by police officers. Racial disparities play a role in the decision by the police to stop, arrest, and search African American and Hispanics people while driving (Ritter 82). Previous studies in San Francisco have indicated that police officers stopped about 15 percent of African Americans in 2015. However, they contributed to more than 42 percent of total searches without consent after stops. Furthermore, the study noted that after the searches Hispanic and African Americans recorded the lowest rate of recovered illegal goods as compared to the whites (Ritter 83).
The US Constitution in the Fourth Amendment provides the key principles that guide the conducts of police officers. In this regard, the police should not stop and put in custody any person without viable reason, rational suspicion or probable cause to think that he/she is engaged in criminal deeds. The police are mandated to utilize traffic stops as a way of identifying evidence (Ritter 84). However, the police apply this discretionary authority against the Hispanics and African Americans.
Nationally, most persons of color are at risk of this treatment irrespective of their adherence to the law, the kind of vehicle they drive, their age, or their social class. In this respect, their skin color has turned out to be the basis to engage in criminal activities (Ritter 86). For this reason, the police utilize this misconception against drivers from minority population in the road most of the time. In numerous cases, police think that people of color driving on the highways are involved in drug trafficking. Therefore, this issue should be addressed by the criminal justice legislation to avert cases of racial profiling (Ritter 89).

Work Cited
Ritter, Joseph A. “How do police use race in traffic stops and searches? Tests based on observability of race.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 135 (2017): 82-98.