Police racial profiling overwhelmingly approved by Dutch public

A massive 64 percent of Dutch voters think that ethnic profiling by the police is acceptable if it is done to fight crime, according to the latest poll by Maurice de Hond. Ethnic profiling - the act of people being checked by the police based on their skin color or ethnic origin - became a topic of discussion last week when the Zwolle police pulled over rapper Typhoon because the combination of his age, skin color and expensive car aroused suspicion. PPV voters are most in favor of ethnic profiling with 80 percent stating that it is acceptable, followed by VVD and 50Plus voters with 76 percent each. The GroenLinks, PvdA and SP voters are least in favor of racial profiling, with only 38, 39 and 41 percent respectively finding it acceptable in the fight against crime. Only 32 percent of all voters think ethnic profiling is a form of racism. Over half of all voters think it a good thing that the Zwolle police apologized to Typhoon following last week's incident. 37 percent of all Dutch think that racism is a common problem in the Netherlands. But 32 percent think that racism in the country decreased over the last 20 years.