"Profiles," formal and informal, are common in law enforcement, particularly in narcotics law enforcement. They consist of general characteristics and features that might make a law enforcement officer suspicious. In some instances, law enforcement agencies formulate and disseminate formal profiles to officers to guide their investigative actions. Even when profiles are not formally maintained, however, officers inevitably rely on their past experience to generate informal profiles for whom to follow more closely, approach, stop, or question. There is nothing wrong with profiling as a general practice, but when race becomes a factor in a profile, serious constitutional and ethical issues arise.

Racial profiling is the use of racial generalizations or stereotypes as a basis for stopping, searching, or questioning an individual. Racial profiling received a great deal of attention in the United States in the late 1990s as a result of a series of prominent incidents...