2 Utah police chiefs making efforts to stop racial profiling


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SALT LAKE CITY — Two of Utah's police chiefs want to widen the discussion and do more to stop racial profiling in their departments.

With 30 years of police work under both of their belts, Provo Police Chief John King and West Valley Police Chief Lee Russo have worked in some of the most diverse cities in the country. Both worked in Baltimore, Maryland, and they know that in certain communities, police have to work hard to overcome negative perceptions.

"I walked a beat in a totally African American community, and here I was a suburban white kid from New York," King said.

Even though Utah isn't as diverse as some other states, both chiefs agree that racial profiling happens here, but it's a little more difficult to put into context.

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill is a media expert who has extensively researched racial profiling and the situations police face.

"They (officers) don't have bad intentions. In fact, they just want to stop crime," Hill said. "The problem is the thing that animates their suspicion are these other factors like race, ethnicity and gender and age and other factors."

Hill said the data on racial profiling is hard to quantify. While statistics show more minorities are sent to prison than whites, there are too many different circumstances for a true comparison.

But Utah police chiefs said profiling has no place in good police work, and they want to better train their officers.

"Try to understand or view the situation through the eyes of the individual you're contacting, how do they perceive it? You may intend one thing, but they may perceive it (another way)," Russo said.

The chiefs also want to better how officers talk to the community.

"Just slow it down, explain our actions and then look people in the eye, talk to them and have a conversation — we have time for that," King said.

Activists like Hill also recommend police get to know the youth in their communities better and work closely with them to help them make good decisions. Ultimately, everyone agrees there needs to be a change in the public perception of what crime looks like.

"If we want a post racial world then that means the face of crime can't just be black and male and young," Hill said.

Stopping profiling of any kind is an attainable goal, but police said it's going to take a lot of cooperation from everyone in the community.

"We have to be thick skinned enough to put the elephant in the room on the table and start talking about it together," Russo said.

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