New Book Offers Roadmap to Less Biased, More Efficient Policing

NEW YORK—Police forces can achieve greater efficiency and improve their relations with minority communities by reducing ethnic profiling, according to a new book published today by the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Addressing Ethnic Profiling by Police reports on efforts to reform police practices in three countries and provides a roadmap toward greater fairness, improved efficiency, and better police-community relations.

The book describes how selected police forces in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Spain worked with the Justice Initiative to monitor police use of stops and searches, determine if they disproportionately affected minority groups, and assess their efficacy in detecting and solving crime. The ultimate goal of the project was to improve relations between police and minority communities by increasing the fairness, effectiveness, and accountability of police stops.

Addressing Ethnic Profiling by Police details the successes and shortcomings of the reform project. It tracks the changes undertaken by participating police forces, including a municipal police force in Spain that increased the effectiveness of stops while reducing their number and disproportionate impact on minority communities.

The book includes chapters on the nature and legality of ethnic profiling and the process of evaluating and changing police practices. It also includes a guide to resources for police forces wishing to undertake reforms.