racial profiling
pp. Detaining, questioning, or arresting a person whose race is part of a profile of traits that allegedly identify the most likely perpetrators of certain crimes.
Examples
2002
A room full of senior police officers and prominent politicians agreed yesterday that racial profiling in Ontario exists and must be stamped out.

Former Ontario lieutenant-governor Lincoln Alexander called his summit on race relations "historic" as he announced that he had secured commitments from all levels of police and government to end racial profiling by police and restore confidence in the public complaints system.
—John Duncanson, “Summit pledges to halt racial profiling,” The Toronto Star, November 26, 2002
1994
The ACLU alleges "racial profiling," in which police look for certain minorities driving certain kinds of cars with certain out-of-state plates. This makes it more likely that minority drivers will be stopped by police.

The statistics do support the ACLU's contention. Blacks and Latinos made up only 13.5 percent of the drivers on the turnpike, but 75 percent of the drivers stopped by police.
—“Fit the wrong 'profile'? Pull over!,” Philadelphia Daily News, August 08, 1994
1989 (earliest)
Many claim searches like this are the result of racial profiling, targeting of black and other minority motorists by state troopers bent on catching drug traffickers.
—J. P. Collum, “Without Just Cause Segment 2,” WWOR TV, January 01, 1989 (OED)
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