This is Why Even Innocence and Compliance is No Guarantee of Your Safety During a Police Stop
Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 4 months ago to Philosophy
I was reading this while watching Schindler's List. The similarities and progressions were frightening.
"Handcuffed and Helpless
There’s a naive idea floating around that an innocent person should never be afraid of cops
What you are about to read is not a philosophical argument. It’s a personal testimony. The aim of telling this story is neither to make a political statement, nor to score points for a particular ideology. For almost three years, I’ve mostly held it in. But it’s become clear to me that it’s time to give a more detailed account to a broader audience."
And: "Without asking to see my license or registration, the officer on my side told me to get out of the car. I immediately and respectfully complied without raising a single question or objection. And in case you’re wondering, I wasn’t dressed in gang colors, nor was I wearing a hoodie.
When I exited the car, he turned me around, handcuffed me, threw me against the side of my car, and did a complete body search on me. As he groped me, he said, “This is how we do it in LA.”"
Then: "Imagine what goes on inside of a man’s head when he’s handcuffed and helpless as he watches two men with guns get in his wife’s face. Imagine the complex blend of confusion, fear, irrational optimism, and rage that festers inside one’s soul as he watches one cop take his wife’s purse and pour all the contents out, while the other officer literally crawls around inside our car for several minutes."
Finally: "As I slowly walked back to our car, I said to one of the officers, “Sir, I’m not trying to be antagonistic or disrespectful, but is there a reason for why I was pulled over?”
“We just had to check you out.”"
Is it time that we all asked questions or is it already too late? How compliant do you have to be to end up in a Police State?
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Note: Since the author is a philosopher, I've categorized this post such.
"Handcuffed and Helpless
There’s a naive idea floating around that an innocent person should never be afraid of cops
What you are about to read is not a philosophical argument. It’s a personal testimony. The aim of telling this story is neither to make a political statement, nor to score points for a particular ideology. For almost three years, I’ve mostly held it in. But it’s become clear to me that it’s time to give a more detailed account to a broader audience."
And: "Without asking to see my license or registration, the officer on my side told me to get out of the car. I immediately and respectfully complied without raising a single question or objection. And in case you’re wondering, I wasn’t dressed in gang colors, nor was I wearing a hoodie.
When I exited the car, he turned me around, handcuffed me, threw me against the side of my car, and did a complete body search on me. As he groped me, he said, “This is how we do it in LA.”"
Then: "Imagine what goes on inside of a man’s head when he’s handcuffed and helpless as he watches two men with guns get in his wife’s face. Imagine the complex blend of confusion, fear, irrational optimism, and rage that festers inside one’s soul as he watches one cop take his wife’s purse and pour all the contents out, while the other officer literally crawls around inside our car for several minutes."
Finally: "As I slowly walked back to our car, I said to one of the officers, “Sir, I’m not trying to be antagonistic or disrespectful, but is there a reason for why I was pulled over?”
“We just had to check you out.”"
Is it time that we all asked questions or is it already too late? How compliant do you have to be to end up in a Police State?
-------------------------------------------------------
Note: Since the author is a philosopher, I've categorized this post such.
This idea is completely in conflict with a free country. Police should not be shielded by the law, they should have more responsibilities under the law because they are the only ones allowed to use force legally.
Good article, db, thanks.
That night, I was driving home from being out with friends, and I cut through the Osco lot on my way home. I knew it was illegal to cut through a lot to avoid multiple lights, but it saved about five minutes of time, and I never had a problem. Three squads pulled me over as I exited the lot - two marked and one unmarked. All had their guns drawn. I was told to throw my keys out of the vehicle, exit the vehicle and lay on the ground spread eagle. One of the cops came up to me, put his foot on one of my wrists, held a gun to my head with one hand and emptied my pockets with the other hand. While doing this, he repeatedly asked me, "Did you steal this truck?". After the third time, I stated, "For the third and last time, No...run the plate against the registration and my license.". He picked me up and pushed me against the hood of his SUV, and put all my stuff on the hood, telling me to keep my hands on the hood. They ran the plates, reg, and my license and came up with nothing, but kept telling me they could cite me for reckless driving because I "was speeding through the lot". After about thirty minutes of back and forth, I started putting all my stuff back in my pockets. The one cop asked me what I was doing. I told him, "You have harassed me for a half hour now...either charge me with something, or I'm leaving." The cop handed me my license back and then said, "But we know where you live." I left without a citation, warning, or arrest.
The cops in that town where known to harass teenagers and minorities. I was harassed that one time, but was present for at least three other times, when my friends were harassed. It really sets the stage for a person's respect for authority when cops do things like this to teenagers. As I got older, I realized that what I experienced was not the norm, but a few bad apples. That being said, I think cops should be held to a higher standard than regular folks. Yes, they are just regular folks, but they are taught to deescalate the situation, and try to avoid larger issues due to their attitudes (hopefully lack there-of). They should be reprimanded for stepping out of line, not high-fived, and the situations not ignored.
The sticker might not be such a good idea.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoWTd...
You know, just putting a sticker on your window is probably enough. Just like putting a security system sign on your house. The deterrent effect still works. But if you can still share that company, thanks!
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoWTd...
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dont...
A couple of days ago 'The Counted' had deaths at 657. I started reviewing and was really surprises how many deaths by Taser were listed.
Eventually, as the country is sliding towards a civil war, this attitude will not be of service to the uniformed thugs.
I have personally known cops my whole life. Hell...one of my earliest memories was going door-to-door with my folks in Santa Clara to help them campaign for a family friend who eventually was elected chief of police. Anymore, I fear the police. I've had very little interaction with police the past 30 years but what I've seen is enough to know that things have really changed. As of the past 8 years or so I no longer have any cop friends. The good guys I grew up admiring have all retired. I've partied with some of the younger guys and, unfortunately, they aren't the kind of people I want around my family.
Handcuffed and Helpless
There’s a naive idea floating around that an innocent person should never be afraid of cops.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/hand...
Police state? We are already in one.
I'm always wondering in cases like this, how commonplace these kind of stops are. Is there a racial component? If it wasn't LA would a similar event occur in say, Boise, Idaho or Salt Lake City?
I think that in every serious study that's been performed, blacks, mexicans, indians, oil field workers, construction workers, etc have more interactions with police, initiated by the police "To just check them out" than a large number of us. But with the excuses of the 'War on Terror', it's moving into our lives as well. Listen to all the nonsense that vets and constitutionalists are now considered potential domestic terrorists.
"We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them...you create a nation of lawbreakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden."
What are some real possible solutions to these issues? Would black cops policing black neighborhoods help provide a solution? I don't think standing down while rioters destroy other peoples property is the way to go either. How about designating certain areas of the country, or specific city limits as a "Free Crime Zone", and/or "Police Free Zone", areas where people can exercise their need to commit crimes. Certain parts of Detroit might be a good area to test such an idea. How about a "Free Kill Zone"? Actually something like that might work to secure our southern border, a strip between two single rail fences about a mile wide. Label it a "Free Kill Zone", and perhaps even set up booths to rent guns and buy ammo. The government wouldn't have to secure the border and could perhaps even make some money selling "Border Killing Permits". I'm sure it would eventually stop most of the illegal immigration.
I'm not necessarily proposing any of these ideas specifically, just bringing them to your attention. We've got to start thinking and acting out of the box, so to speak, before all the nut jobs rule this country, or is it too late?
As to areas like Detroit, etc, shut down Urban Project Housing, go back to 'Welfare to Work' programs, give anyone on welfare transportation to a job anywhere in the country.
Are there a few bad apples among the hundreds of thousands in America? Or course, as there would be when examining any large group. But, they're the remarkable exception and not the norm.
Ask the residents of Baltimore if they feel safer since the cops have been vilified.
Please provide your source of such a statement.
The cities you refer to have some pretty bad Police public reputations so far for at least last year and this year from the articles I read in Reason, The Guardian, The Washington Post and a number of others.
The stats have been widely published and reported. Here's a good synopsis read.
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"The Ferguson effect is an unlikely reason, said Jeffery Ulmer, associate head of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania.
"Is it possible that somehow high-profile police shootings have angered some local populations and caused a rise in violent crime of all kinds in the last few months? Yes. Do I find that scenario likely nationwide? No, not at all."
More likely, he said, is that local forces are at play.
Violent crime rates are often in response to major changes in policing, but are mostly driven by social factors such as the size of the youth population, the amount of socioeconomic disadvantage and social disorganisation in a given city.
Violent crime being up in NYC is related to the decrease in "stop and frisk", said Alfred Blumstein, a criminologist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The New York City Police Department's historical main tactic for stopping people has significantly decreased after the way it was exercised was deemed unconstitutional.
"Inevitably, there was a trade off," said Mr Blumstein. "[Stop and Frisk] was certainly a deterrent effect to carrying a gun in the street."
New York City's historic drop in crime since the 1980s is "astonishing", said Mr Blumstein, but continuing downward trends cannot go on forever.
Mayor de Blasio said summer was also to blame - last year saw an uptick in crime at the end of spring and beginning of summer for New York City as well. Researchers from the University of North Carolina found a correlation between higher temperatures and violent crime rates in a 2004 study.
Could the increase be just a blip?
Violent crime is not going up everywhere. Philadelphia has seen a 41% decrease in murders since 2007.
Short-term spikes are statistically unreliable, especially if they come after a long-term decline, and could just be a blip, said Dr James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston.
"It's a ridiculous silly game of focusing too much on too little, trying to ascribe it to something like the impact of [events in] Ferguson," said Mr Fox. "None of these statistics are reliable."
A wider window of statistics would be much more reliable than a handful of figures representing January to May of this year, he said.
That flattened feeling police officers are having in Baltimore? It will pass, Dr Fox said.
"I don't want to minimise the tragedy of so many dying... but the sky is not falling," he said.
Anthony Reuben, head of statistics, BBC News:
Some of the rises in violent crime so far this year are indeed striking, but I understand there have been similarly impressive falls in other cities.
It is usually a mistake to declare a trend based on a few months of figures for a handful of cities. It is also difficult to blame this selection of figures on a nationwide problem with US policing, or anything else for that matter.
I'm sure the relevant police departments are looking at these figures very carefully, but we will need considerably more data over a longer period to be able to draw any meaningful conclusions."
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Personally, I kind of wonder if the nationwide monitoring and reporting of death by police might somehow be incorporated in the increased murders in some cities resulting from police now knowing that if they don't report it, someone else will. It was estimated last year that 50% or more of deaths from police were never reported to the FBI. Through the Jan to Jul period of 2015, the numbers were somewhere around 600--a significant increase from previous years.
Neither your nor my perspective on this issue is the entire story and I seriously doubt either of us will ever get all the information and academia take years to reach conclusions. I think there are some correlations we can look at. Supposedly the marked increase in all violent crime started increasing in 1963, about the time of the first major gun control law and just a few years before Nixon's declared War On Drugs and kept rising till sometime in the 90's, about the time the renewal of gun bans failed. Gun purchases have increased drastically starting about the same time, and violent crime started precipitously dropping. It may very well be that violent crime against everyday citizens has become too dangerous for criminals and the statistics are now picking up the criminal on criminal crimes resulting from the insanity of the War On Drugs. It should also be noted that the early to mid 60's was the beginnings of many major Housing Projects in cities that did what--it concentrated the welfare culture in one area, increasing the amount of crime. We'll have to continue to deal with that until we bust up those Projects and get people spread out and working.
Who knows, but none of it justifies the horrendous police abuse I see reported on and viewed on Youtube and other sources everyday, nor the number of cops I see walk away with outrageous retirements after drawing abuse or murder allegations and almost none going to prison.
I'm not saying the police are innocent, but I could hardly form any kind of personal opinion, based on this account, alone. Remember...Brian Williams was shot down by an RPG...oops!