His personal interest in racial retailing profiling preceded his scholarly interest. In 1989, Gabbidon’s fiancée went to a retail store to buy an item for their wedding. An alarm went off as she walked out of the store, and she was detained and searched although she had a receipt.

 “We talked about it and decided that it was profiling and sued the store,” he says, adding that they received a small settlement. “A lot of people say they have been profiled but don’t do anything about it. That becomes a problem because no one knows anything about it.”

 Gabbidon says retailers hurt themselves when they target minority groups as shoplifters.

 “By profiling Blacks they miss out on who is likely to steal from them … typically a White person,” he says, adding that the same principle of profiling applies to other crimes.  “The reason why Blacks in cars are racially profiled is because it is believed they will disproportionately have drugs on them. If you operate on a stereotype, you are going to catch more Blacks because you are watching them more.”

 Gabbidon has some advice for retailers.

 “All (racial and ethnic) groups shoplift,” he says. “You need to monitor demographically (whom) you are arresting and who’s being the target of your arrests.”

 He has some advice for shoppers as well.

 “People being profiled need to file complaints, and retailers need to respond to those complaints,” he says, adding that filing a complaint creates a record that could help someone else who decides to sue. “If we don’t do it, nothing changes. The reason things changed in racial profiling in automobiles is because someone sued. The state police (were) forced to open its books.”