[Schneed10]

I have no problem with profiling, racial or otherwise. I remember being 20 years old and driving back home from my girlfriend's house at about 1:00 am in the morning. I came upon a DUI checkpoint where the cops had everyone slow down, they looked at you, and decided whether or not to have you blow a breathalizer. They took one look at me being a young guy out at 1:00 am and ordered me to go blow the breathalizer. I passed, hadn't had a single drink, and the cop doing the tests yells up to the cops at the point, "Hey you gotta send me better candidates, this guy's clean too!" And the cop at the point yells back "You said send in any young kids, so I am!"

I had no problem with that because they're right, males age 18-25 are known to be the most careless drivers in the world, and the most likely group to get behind the wheel under the influence. I wasn't one of them, but I couldn't fault them for checking me, just look at the odds.

Race isn't the only part of the profile cops should be depending on. Their age, their clothes, the make of car they're driving, how loud their music is, what type of music it is, all of these things tell cops a little bit about you. Are those profiles always right? Of course not. But if they pull you over and you've done nothing wrong, then the worst thing that happens to you is you're delayed 15 minutes while they check you out, and you get to be on your merry way no matter what color your skin is, what car you're driving, how old you are, or how loud your tunes are playing.

And if you've done nothing wrong and you're a law-abiding citizen, you thank the cops after they make you blow the breathalizer at a DUI checkpoint, because those efforts are helping reduce the number of drunk maniacs on the road that put your life in danger.