Five-Year Study on Racial Profiling Leads to Policy Changes

Newswise — Michael Birzer, Wichita State University's director of the School of Community Affairs, recently completed a five-year research project exploring racial profiling in Kansas. The results of the research have led to the development of an updated biased-based policing course offered at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center.

The study, commissioned by the Kansas Department of Transportation, involved two separate investigative phases. During the first phase, Birzer traveled to more than 25 communities in Kansas collecting the stories of minority members who had experienced racial profiling.

The people Birzer encountered told similar stories about the culture of policing. African-American youths are often taught how to behave when pulled over by the police, something that is traditionally not done in Caucasian families.

"Some people don't think we need to look back at history, but I think it plays a very important role here," says Birzer. "If we want to really do criminal justice reform, we have to address those issues."

Birzer worked in law enforcement for 18 years prior to working in academia, and understands the background of racial profiling issues minorities experience.

"It illuminated how citizens perceive racial profiling," says Birzer. "Sometimes citizens were never even told why they were pulled over."

The second phase of Birzer's research had him traveling Kansas once again, but this time he asked for feedback from police officers in response to what minority citizens said about their experiences with racial profiling.

"A lot of researchers go out and try to quantify the information by looking at citation data and stop data and trying to make inferences about it, and I think we miss some context there," says Birzer. "Numbers don't always tell us what's going on."

Making an impact

After his research was published, Birzer used it to develop the biased-based policing training curriculum for the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchinson, which trains approximately 75 percent of law enforcement officers in Kansas. Taking a course in racial profiling is a yearly requirement for Kansas officers, and many take Birzer's course to meet the requirement.

Ed Pavey, director of the training center, says it helps remind officers of the standards that must be maintained to do the job well.

"People expect a certain level of behavior from officers," says Pavey.

The goal of Birzer's research was not to simply provide information to the general public, but to bring about change.

"There are some researchers who do research just to do it," says Birzer. "I want to do research that is going to have an impact and make lives better."

After seeing the success of the law enforcement training, Birzer took the opportunity to develop the information into a special topics course on racial profiling at WSU. Since the class was first offered in 2012, it has had 50 or more students enrolled each spring semester.

"Research can be more than just a journal article that sits on the shelf for 10 years that nobody ever reads," says Birzer. "It can be a venue to change lives and change fundamental policy, and then you can take it right into the classroom."

Birzer's research has been published in his book, "Racial Profiling: They Stopped Me Because I'm -----!" To see a list of his other works, go to http://www.bit.ly/1QyMVEM.

A photograph is available at http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/wsunews/newsrelease/highres/?pid=6069# # # # #Contact: Michael Birzer, director, School of Community Affairs, 316-978-6525 or [email protected].