Collection of racial data by four Chittenden County police departments is underway, and will be examined for signs of racial profiling.

The voluntary effort — which involves departments in Burlington, South Burlington, Winooski, and the University of Vermont — is the result of complaints by minority residents that police were stopping them more often than Caucasian drivers, simply because of their skin color.

Police denied the charges. The denials led to an uncomfortable stand-off two years ago that resulted in a series of public discussions, some of them tense.

Without police stop data that includes race, neither side can prove it’s right.

The state of Vermont has consistently refused to require the collection of such data. Law enforcement generally opposes it, and the attorney general’s office has not made it a priority. Neither have legislators.

The Burlington area initiative is unique in the state. It should go a long way to shining a light on the truth — at least for the four departments participating in the pilot project.

But no matter the results, all departments in the state should be collecting data — voluntarily, one would hope, so they can show they don’t engage in racial profiling.

If departments won’t collect the data voluntarily, then the cities and towns that oversee the departments should require them to do so. If the municipalities won’t mandate collection, then the state should.

This summer’s Henry Louis Gates affair has shown us how we avoid confronting race issues. Few of us want to be called racists. But not responding to charges by minorities of profiling suggests that racism might indeed be flourishing. If there’s statistical proof profiling isn’t taking place, then the charge of racism is blunted. Who, then, wouldn’t want statistical data that show no patterns of profiling?

And if there’s statistical proof that profiling is taking place, we should do something about it. Good cops know that racial profiling is bad policing. Leads are developed and followed that are pointless. Good cops know a cop who practices racial profiling is a bad cop and needs to change his or her ways or be let go.

The Burlington Free Press recently reported on the Burlington initiative .

A good source of information on racial profiling is the Data Collection Resource Center at Northeastern University in Boston.

Tags: equal protection, freedom of movement, police accountability, search and seizure