More on Profiling

Here's another story illustrating the problems around profiling. Based on a report by a ticket agent that five "suspicious" men had boarded a Gray Line bus, the NYPD, in body armor and with automatic weapons, stopped the bus, told all the passengers to raise their hands and get off the bus, then handcuffed the five men, segregated them from the rest of the passengers and had them kneel on the pavement while the police searched the bus.

The "probable cause" for all of this? The ticket agent reported to a Gray Line supervisor, who then reported to police that:

the men had purchased their tickets in advance; that they carried backpacks; and that they wore something else - perhaps fanny packs - that caused bulges to appear around their waists.

Oh and one other detail: the five men "appeared to be South Asian."

To his credit, Mayor Bloomberg issued an official apology to both the men and to the British government, whose citizens the men turned out to be.

I suppose these sorts of incidents are inevitable given the climate, and when they happen, apologies are certainly in order. But, unless we can to prevent such incidents from becoming commonplace or accepted, apologies will quickly begin to sound hollow.

Without great care, our efforts to prevent bombings will do more damage than the bombings themselves. Indeed, that is exactly the fact that provides the motivation for such bombings. As such, to effectively fight such tactics, we have to heighten our watchfulness not only for bombers but also for our own principles.