Defense against Profiling?

I want to talk to you about Profiling.  Many of you have heard of it and some of you may have experienced it, like me.  Quite simply put, profiling is a form of police prejudice.  It is the assumption that some groups are more likely to commit crimes or in some other way break or bend the law.  It is also a form of harassment.  The most widely known type of profiling is racial profiling.

Racial Profiling(Driving while Black, also Hispanic, Asian, or any other minority group)
This type of profiling is based on ethnicity.  Police will target black citizens for traffic stops and searches for no other reason than that they are black.  I experienced this type of profiling first-hand in Beaumont, TX.  My mother and I were traveling from San Antonio back to Florida after dropping my daughter off to spend the summer with my sister.  All of a sudden I find myself being pulled over.  What should have been a routine traffic stop ended up with me being removed from the car and questioned by one officer while my mother in the car was being questioned by his partner.  We were in my mother's car (an older Delta 88) with Florida plates.  Although they did not say it, they pulled us over because we were black, driving am ordinary car with Florida plates on Interstate 10.  Because of that criteria they thought there was a possibility that we were running drugs.  Of course they "gave me a reason" for the stop.  When they pulled out so suddenly behind me, I thought perhaps they had gotten a call and moved over to the right behind a panel van.  Their excuse was that I was too close to the van.  My mother however did not take kindly to their actions and told them that I worked for a police department at which time they immediately released us.

Gender Profiling(Driving while female)
Yes ladies this happens also.  Female drivers are bad drivers or they want to get your information.  Officers have been known to pull women over for no other reason than being female.  This can be very upsetting at night when you are alone in your vehicle.  After 12 years of dealing with police officers I can tell you that the majority want to do the job to the best of their ability, but there is that minority of bad cops.

Age Profiling (Driving while a teen)
Teenagers are targeted almost as often as minorities.  Kids out at night just have to be up to no good.  They are scoring drugs, committing vandalism etc.  This type of profiling can cause young people to develop a hatred for police.

Your car doesn't fit the neighborhood
If you are driving a clunker in an affluent neighborhood they will assume you are looking for a house to burglarize, but if you are driving a nice car in a poor neighborhood you must be selling drugs.

From experience I can tell you that being profiled is a violation.  Being judged in this manner causes an emotional response,  anger, confusion, fear of it happening again.  Most importantly it makes you feel like you have no rights.  This is an issue that PrePaid Legal Services addresses.  The Legal Shield Card invokes your Miranda rights and gives you 24 hour access to an attorney when you need it.  You have an attorney to advise you when that officer wants to subject you to a search without probable cause.  You don't have to worry about being profiled again.