Unlawful profiling

Racism in the police can include discriminatory racial profiling practices through to excessive use of force. Incidents like these highlight deeper systemic issues that need addressing. Many in society are affected by racism in policing, not only the individuals or communities targeted. Lack of trust in policing can fuel social exclusion and damages the foundations of a fair and equal society, however promising practices are developing to address these issues. This is the first EU-wide report on racism in policing. FRA’s findings identify gaps in regulatory frameworks and propose concrete steps for action.

This paper presents statistical survey data for the EU on how often people are stopped by the police, in what kind of situations they are stopped, the action taken by the police during stops, and views on whether or not the police acted respectfully.

Police officers who ensure that people are able to exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms earn the respect and trust of the public. With this in mind, this manual sets out to foster such human rights-based police work by integrating human rights training into the heart of police training, in line with the European Union’s goals in the field of justice and home affairs.

EU-MIDIS Data in Focus report 4 focuses on the experiences of police stops of the 23 500 individuals with an ethnic minority or immigrant background interviewed as part of the survey. The report also contains results showing levels of trust in the police from the EU-MIDIS Survey.