April 24, 201016 yr Author Profiling... whether official policy or merely a tool subtly deployed by law enforcement is one of the single best weapons available for preventing, solving and generally fighting crime. Whether we admit it or not, every single one of us "profile" daily. There is (what used to be called) common sense in doing so. A lone woman walking to her car after dark is generally not as alarmed being approached by an elderly lady using a walker as she might be by a large male in a hooded jacket. It's part learned knowledge, part instinct. Both individuals may be completely harmless and kind, but if one is intent upon wrongdoing, it's far more likely greater physical harm would come from the large male than the granny. Even though a woman may have experienced such a situation dozens of times with no negative outcome... to not be alert in such a scenario could be the difference between life and death, health and escape or a brutal outcome. Certainly, there can be exceptions to all "profiles" but when the odds fall above 50%... much more so in the 90% and above range... NOT using profiling is foolish. If terrorism was known to be coming from radicals in Scandinavia, NOT giving extra scrutiny to blonde haired, blue eyed, fair skinned individuals from that region and adhering to that set of socio-religious-political beliefs and practices, would be absolutely absurd. The problem is, people confuse the basic concept and function of "profiling" with larger more heinous practices of racism, xenophobia, genocide and persecution. Using observational and deductive skills to determine the most likely perpetrators of crimes is vastly different from rounding up or persecuting people simply because they were born Jewish, or black or Japanese or Irish or… Extremely well said! :thumb:
April 24, 201016 yr Good question.To answer the question I was very suspicious of any police officer I saw. It took a very long time for me to every trust that I would get a fair break from any officer. Also the problem with stopping some as you asked in your original post is that then it would go back to way it used to be. An almost segregated society. White people would be attacked for being in a black neighborhood and it would happen the other way around also. I know it will because people will go back to the thinking that if I can't go into your neighborhood you sure better not come into mine.
April 24, 201016 yr Author To answer the question I was very suspicious of any police officer I saw. It took a very long time for me to every trust that I would get a fair break from any officer. Also the problem with stopping some as you asked in your original post is that then it would go back to way it used to be. An almost segregated society. White people would be attacked for being in a black neighborhood and it would happen the other way around also. I know it will because people will go back to the thinking that if I can't go into your neighborhood you sure better not come into mine. Did they harass you in any way? How exactly did they handle it? I know I was profiled a lot in my teen years to my early 20s if I was in certain areas. Questioned often, even asked if they could search my car, which they sometimes did. I never had any distrust of them.
April 24, 201016 yr Did they harass you in any way? How exactly did they handle it? I know I was profiled a lot in my teen years to my early 20s if I was in certain areas. Questioned often, even asked if they could search my car, which they sometimes did. I never had any distrust of them. No, he didn't harass me in any way. It was just the thought of being stopped just because of the type hat I was wearing. He didn't say he was investigating any crime or anything like that. The only reason he stopped me was because of my hat. I didn't violate any law and to me that wasn't a reason to stop someone.
April 24, 201016 yr What about a black guy minding his own business stopping at a restaurant that is closed but they have a soda machine outside. He gets out of his car buys the soda. Gets back into his car drives off and then is stopped by a police officer. The reason the officer stopped him? The cop said it was because of the type of hat he was wearing! Want to know who the guy was? It was me. This actually happened to me. No one and I mean no one will ever convince me that I wasn't the victim of racial profiling. I'm fairly certain that's not a legal reason to stop someone. What department was it?
April 24, 201016 yr I'm fairly certain that's not a legal reason to stop someone. What department was it? Murray, Ky.
April 24, 201016 yr No, he didn't harass me in any way. It was just the thought of being stopped just because of the type hat I was wearing. He didn't say he was investigating any crime or anything like that. The only reason he stopped me was because of my hat. I didn't violate any law and to me that wasn't a reason to stop someone. Just because he didn't indicate he was investigating a crime, does not mean he wasn't.
April 24, 201016 yr Just because he didn't indicate he was investigating a crime, does not mean he wasn't. So you think it was okay for him to stop me just because I was wearing a hat?
April 24, 201016 yr So you think it was okay for him to stop me just because I was wearing a hat? Legally in the state of Kentucky, it's not a good enough reason to pull you over, unless I'm badly mistaken.
April 24, 201016 yr Legally in the state of Kentucky, it's not a good enough reason to pull you over, unless I'm badly mistaken. Thanks, that is what I was thinking also.
April 24, 201016 yr Author Maybe a guy with a similar hat committed a crime earlier...Definitely a possibility.
April 25, 201016 yr The issue isn't whether it happens. As FB said we all do it every day. However, its a matter of degree and its certainly a fine line. However, I think its disingenuous for white people to act like black people shouldn't be bothered by it.
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