Posted on January 14, 2005

Macy’s Pays to Settle Racial Profiling Case

Pat Milton, AP, Jan. 14

NEW YORK — A division of the retailer Macy’s has agreed to pay $600,000 and make sure its security officers adhere to store policy that prohibits using racial or ethnic profiling in detaining suspected shoplifters.

The agreement between Macy’s East Inc. and state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and covers Macy’s stores in New York state.

Spitzer said at a news conference that the agreement would permit “individuals, regardless of skin color, to walk into a store and not feel like they are going to be followed, not feel they are going to be viewed suspiciously and not dealt with as second-class citizens.”

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“What we found was deeply disturbing,” said Spitzer. “What we found was those who were shopping at Macy’s, those who were black or Latino, were dealt with differently.”

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