i believe racial profiling is a preemtive to a crime (i.e. going out and looking for a certain race because you believe they may do something wrong). after a crime has taken place, race is often useful to ID someone.

can you imagine if a white person committed a crime, and they couldn't report it as a white person, so instead cops are shaking down black people. doesn't make sense does it? just mentioning someones race doesn't automatically make it a racial thing.