West Texas A&M University’s Political Science Club hosted a public forum titled ‘Profiling: Why?’ last Thursday night in the Senate Chamber inside of the Jack B. Kelley Student Center.

Many campus organizations were represented at the event, such as the Black Men’s Association, the Black Women’s Association, the Hispanic Student Association and the Secular Student Alliance.

Although both University Police and Canyon Police officers were absent, a panel of retired law enforcement officers were present and able to give a law enforcement insight.

The event began with a short presentation in which profiling was defined as, “The use of personal characteristics or behavior patterns to make generalizations to determine whether a person may be engaged in illegal activity.”

The presentation then shifted to how profiling is sometimes used to make critical decisions based on age, income, religion, culture and sexual orientation.

Whether such uses of profiling are justifiable or not, they occur daily in the U.S. Statistics were given about incarceration rates for the same drug charges against white, black and Latino men in Texas.

Black men were three times more likely to face incarceration than their white counterparts, and Latinos twice as likely. A study the Political Science Club found from 2013, reported police officers were 46.5 times more likely to be assaulted than civilians.

“It won’t change until we change some societal problems,” George Williams, retired Amarillo police officer, said. “Change will come from educating officers, diversity in the ranks and properly made laws.”

CPD, though absent to the forum, sent a document about the complaint process. Citizens that feel they have been profiled in encounters with police can follow the steps listed in the document.

Once the presentation was complete, the floor was open to all in attendance to share their experiences.

“There is an internalized racism that everyone has,” Nataziah Gipson, Public Relations major said. “Those in power have hard jobs, but they perpetuate the stereotypes more. I think that this event was beneficial.”

“Trying to build a stronger connection with law enforcement will help,” Lucell Hanson said.