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WASHINGTON — Law enforcement agencies should review the way they recruit, train and supervise their officers to combat practices that unfairly target minorities, a group of police officials said Monday. 

While some police departments have enacted policies against racial profiling, and most forbid stopping people solely because of their race, most overlook more subtle problems of racial bias, a report by the Police Executive Research Forum, an organization of police chiefs studying new law enforcement techniques, said. 

“It’s not just simply stopping people in cars, it’s how you interact with people, it’s how you take calls over the phone. This is a broader issue,” said Chuck Wexler, director of the research group. The report, funded by the Justice Department, contains nearly 50 recommendations for police agencies ranging from recruiting more minority officers to working with community groups and teaching police about human rights. 

“Protecting individual rights is not an inconvenience for modern police, it is the foundation of policing in a democratic society,” Wexler said, adding that notices will be sent to police departments encouraging them to adopt the recommendations. 

The report urges police to only consider race and ethnicity when dealing with reliable descriptions of specific suspects and never as the sole reason for suspicion. Police should also be more courteous when stopping people and apologize if they make a mistake, it said. 

Police Chief Jerry Oliver of Richmond, Va., said that a bigger problem than stopping people because of their race – an action he has endured as a black officer when off-duty – is making people feel powerless. 

“A police officer has the power to interrupt your life, to pull you to the curb, to search you,” he said. “We have not taught them how to send you on your way feeling that you’ve got your dignity back.” 

The report’s recommendations for police agencies also include: 

• Recruiting more police from traditionally black colleges and universities and from the military. 

• Monitoring patrol car videotapes and radio communications to ensure that conversations are professional and free from racist comments. 

— Conducting regular reviews of the complaint process to make sure people aren’t being discouraged from reporting problems. 

A separate study published last month found that about half of all black men report that they have been victims of racial profiling. One in five Latino and Asian men also reported they had been victims of racially motivated police stops, according to the poll by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University. 

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On the Net: 

Racial Profiling report: http://www.policeforum.org/racial.html