Copyright (c) 2013 Morgan D
Criminal and terrorist profiling ought to be incorporated in mainstream counter- terrorism techniques. Since crime and terrorism has evolved to become a global pandemic cum catastrophe, criminal and terrorist profiling has proven to be a pivotal towards identifying potential threats and countering them where possible. The discourse re-affirms the claim that Profiling to identify potential criminals and terrorist should be used more widely for the prevention of crimes against society. There are facts that back this argument on how profiling is applied and its impact on the war on crime and terror. Profiling is a technique that enables a country to adapt a proactive approach towards terrorism and crime prevention.
Similarly, a proactive approach backs up the idea that it is the fundamental obligation of any nation to shield its citizens from any potential external or internal threats by any means possible. Profiling is a technique that has proven effective. It is relatively easy to teach profiling concepts to law enforcement agents and other relevant authorities. However, a clear concept of profiling cannot be achieved without featuring some of the counter-arguments brought forward against it. Racial profiling, moral and ethical concerns, prejudice and discrimination are some of the significant negative concerns and implications of profiling. Regardless of these fundamental concerns, the paper ultimately concludes that indeed, criminal profiling cannot be disregarded as an effective means of countering terrorism and crime.
Hence, the process profiling is unquestionably mentioned for the terrorist and criminal activities. In most cases, profiling assumes a scientific approach. However, profiling can also be achieved along behavioral, medical, religious, ethnic, cultural, psychological, physical, and even geographical lines. The prevalence of profiling around the world is proof enough that the crime fighting technique is easy to teach and learn. It is not limited to one field of study or specialization. Similarly, it is not limited to one factor or parameter. Through profiling, countries, organizations and, law enforcement organizations have been able to identify where the potential threats lie.
Through criminal and terrorism profiling, we can conclude that Al Qaeda is America's greatest security threat. This is true because the terror group has claimed responsibility for the majority of attacks against USA and the world over. Similarly, identification of the potential threats has enabled such potential targets to embark on a war against terror through operations such as the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. This has been achieved through profiling of criminals through the behavior analysis and other factors to arrive at such a conclusion. This is an indicator that profiling enable's countries to identify and act upon potential threats.
Some of the acts of crime and terror are influenced by a suspect's psychological and behavioral attributes. This means that analyzing a crime and criminal would involve dissecting the individual's personal and psychological profile. Technology and other techniques cannot be wholly relied on when fighting crime and terror. The most sophisticated threat detection equipment cannot tell a suspect's motive of committing a crime. The same equipment cannot analyze the suspect's feelings towards his/her target in order to determine its impact on the suspect's judgment and actions. Hence, profiling is an effective tool, where other mechanisms cannot be applied. Profiling also enables effective sharing and distribution of information regarding suspect behavior and characteristics. This flexible flow of information goes a long way in crime fighting and prevention, according to National Counterterrorism Center.
Racial profiling has been the most controversial and most debated topics as far as profiling is concerned. Racial and ethnic profiling perpetuates the idea that a group of people oriented to a particular ethnic or racial group is more likely to be involved in crime than other, according to Curry. This is a notion that has been well-accepted especially among the westerners, regarding middle-easterners and people of Islamic orientation. Proponents of racial profiling have brought forward strong arguments to back their continued support for racial and ethnic profiling.
To conceptualize arguments backing racial profiling, we ought to consider the fact that terrorism is, to some extent, unique to the respective areas it targets. This means that terrorism in America may not necessarily be similar to that in Afghanistan or Iraq. While that in Iraq may be instigated by religious motives, terrorism in America is mostly fuelled by the hatred that the In American history of terrorism, most of the attacks that have been launched against the nation have had their roots from the Islamic community.
This is so because the Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. In 1998, the terrorist attack on the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were also acts perpetuated by Islamic terror groups. Emerson notes that even with the most sophisticated technology in crime and threat detection, it is impossible to be 100% certain that they can prevent acts of terror. Airport and customs screening have failed in identifying potential threats. After all, the 9/11 attacks involved the hijacking of planes. Essentially, when fighting crime and terror, we cannot choose to ignore the fact that to a great extent, crimes against certain targets may be instigated and perpetuated by a specific religious or racial group.
Having knowledge of this does not imply that all presumed terror groups, based on religion or race, are indeed, terrorists. This may be one of the greatest shortcomings of racial profiling. Not all Islam is terrorist. In fact, majority of law the minority groups in America and other potential threats are law abiding citizens. Similarly, some perpetrators of crime and terror are mainstream whites. The idea of racial profiling has, thus, managed to cultivate a negative stereotype that minority groups are most likely to be involved in crime and terrorism. This is true according to the Fact Sheet Racial Profiling (1). In America, the stereotype has brewed so much controversy that it took the president's intervention to curb it.
In Europe, the situation is worse. Curry noted that after the London bus attack, a series of raids on mosques and other Islamic residences. Racial profiling is not limited to Islam only. With the high rates of immigration in America, Latin Americans have become victims of stereotypes and profiling. Today, most immigrants are regarded as criminals in a range of crimes including drugs and violence. Similarly, America's own African Americans have been the victim of the stereotype that they are also violent, criminals and drug dealers. These kinds of stereotypes and prejudiced notions have far reaching consequences. When we narrow down the focus to a group of people, we leave out a greater lot free from scrutiny. If we decide to focus solely on African Americans, Mexicans, Arabs and other minority groups, then we are giving a leeway for all other potential threats to prosper and flourish. Similarly, religious movements, ethnic and racial groups are relatively high widening the scope of focus and this might the whole process ineffective.
A profile is a predictive and analytical tool. So far, it has proven to be vital in analyzing potential criminals and using these analyses to prevent crime and terror. Apart from aiding countries and law enforcement agencies to adapt a proactive approach to the war on crime and terror, profiling has also successfully provided a framework for those countries, and agencies to safeguard the security and welfare of the citizens. Profiling has also proven a relatively simply crime fighting technique that can be taught to law enforcement officers, and other crime fighting authorities.
However, regardless of these breakthroughs and strengths, profiling has been marked by some negative tags. The ethics and morals of profiling have been questioned, especially when focusing on racial and ethnic profiling. This is so because of negative stereotypes revolving around racial, religious and ethnic profiling has evolved. This has shifted focus partially to these groups. Similarly, profiling may not necessarily be the most effective tool in crime and terror fighting. Luggage and passenger screening, sniffer dogs, chemical and explosive detection are equally useful tools that can achieve a lot in terms of crime and terror prevention.
Conclusively, we cannot undermine the usefulness and effectiveness of criminal profiling, especially considering what the technique has been able to achieve, so far. Law enforcers should strive to incorporate other crime prevention techniques alongside profiling. Similarly, since it is almost impossible to do away with racial profiling, we can broaden the scope of focus to incorporate other parameters that revolve around the personality of an individual. Such parameters include education, family, medical and occupational backgrounds and other significant factors. This would go a long way in assisting to create a balance between crime and terror prevention, and the fundamental necessity of upholding individual human rights and freedoms.
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