Opinion

Retail profiling

City retail stores detaining African-American customers after they’ve made legitimate purchases is a real problem in New York, as we’ve learned from recent events.

But it’s not the only problem. And history suggests that the issues will only grow more acrimonious now that Al Sharpton has involved himself in talks with Barneys and Macy’s.

Here are the facts: At least four black New Yorkers in recent weeks made perfectly legal credit-card purchases at Barneys and Macy’s, but ended up being arrested or detained by NYPD undercover officers before being cleared. Two of the four are already preparing legal action.

The flip side is that New York retailers increasingly find themselves victimized by various forms of theft. In fighting it, they look for different clues in a customer, such as a person who buys without looking at the price. And cops are called to respond.

For example, the same day 19-year-old college student Trayon Christian was arrested for buying his belt, cops were patrolling Barneys because of the earlier arrest of a woman committing an illegal purchase; they found nine fraudulent cards on her. And when a black customer was detained at Macy’s after he’d made a legitimate purchase, cops were already on the premises because they were investigating a “skimming” operation.

Skimming involves stealing someone’s credit- or debit-card information. Which means that just because a transaction goes through doesn’t mean it’s legitimate. According to Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, credit-card fraud prosecution is up 50 percent over the past five years.

The stores and the banks are all victimized. Then again, so is the innocent African-American who is stopped and detained simply for using his own credit card.

All those involved need to work out ways that will allow them to address fraud without leaving honest black customers feeling they’ve been racially profiled.

Maybe that will mean requiring a photo ID for all card purchases. One thing it surely means is that the more Al Sharpton is involved, the more distant the prospects of a reasonable ­solution becomes.