Wichita State professor Michael Birzer has been actively researching racial profiling and the criminal justice system in Kansas.

Birzer has interviewed dozens of local and state law enforcement officers concerning why they stop motorists and racial profiling is part of those stops.

“Anything dealing with the intersection of race and the criminal justice system matters,” Birzer said. “Whenever you have a lot of history and context there and you’re still having issues, it matters.”

This is an important field of study because it is still an issue in today’s society, Birzer said.

For Birzer, situations like the one that recently happened in Ferguson, MO. remind him of that importance.

“One of the things that I think is unique of the line of research that I’m doing now is the fact it’s relevant. It’s happening.” Birzer said. “Whenever you talk about race and the criminal justice system, that is something that is happening now.”

A police department should represent the community they serve and Wichita’s Police Department has done an above average job with the demographic makeup of the department, Birzer said. Currently, there is an African-American interim chief, deputy chief and several African-American high-ranking officers within WPD, which Birzer says is unique.

Birzer’s first study was two years of field research, which included traveling throughout the community and interviewing minority citizens. The study was implemented to answer the question “How do minorities experience the criminal justice system?”

Those two years of research served as the basis for his book “Racial Profiling.” That research has also been incorporated into the bias based policy training conducted by the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center.

The center trains every law enforcement officer in Kansas except those belonging to a department with their own academy.

For Birzer knowing that his research is being put to practical use is the ultimate reward.

Most of the data has been collected in this area was quantitative. For example the number of traffic stops and tickets issued along with a breakdown of the demographics involved.  Birzer’s study, in contrast, focuses on identifying and measuring perceptions rather than numerical data and figures.

It is important that people realize the history and context that comes from the dark history of race and the criminal justice system, Birzer said.

“These aren’t overnight things that just happen,” Birzer said.

Identifying the need for incorporating his findings into the classroom, two years ago Birzer offered a special topics class over racial profiling course. Birzer was unsure about how much interest the course would have, but 89 students enrolled in the course the first semester that it was offered.

“Anything that pertains to something that’s relevant in the profession right now,” Birzer said.  “Race certainly is. The interaction of minority citizens with police and the criminal justice system in general. I think those are things that we capitalize on in the classroom as well.”

Birzer is now pursuing having racial profiling added as a regular catalog course and it will be available as an undergraduate course as well as graduate cross-section course for the spring semester.