Those of you who are long term readers know that yours truly has been profiled in VT.
The reason for that is I drive with NY plates. Unfortunately, the local police have learned who I am and have been polite. There are times it is annoying but the police are doing their job.
The reality of Police work is that many of the clues are subtle and police do work on probability. A person with NYC plates by the border is most likely a tourist or in other cases could be involved in criminal activity. Thus my 2AM trips to the local supermarket to get Miracle Whip arroused suspicion. I was inconvienenced delayed but let go. I offered to take a breathalizer immediately and was turned down.
I offered to touch my nose the polce officers nose but that wasn't the issue. The local police were never rude or abusive just doing their job.
Similarly police in NYC and other places have tough jobs to do. We have plenty of infrastructure to gaurd and they must use every tool of judgement at their disposal.
The idiotic left wants you to believe Grandma Prune Juice is as likely to blow up a building as someone from a Muslim Country. Off the bat that logic is absurd and inconveniences people for no good reason. Maybe if you are from Pakistan and you do not like being profiled you will turn on the real culprits the terrorists and their fellow travelers on the left. The blame for the ensuing hassles belongs on the terrorists.
Policemen have a tough job and should be respected. If the left like 167 is so against police states where is the critique of Cuba, Iran and the Commies durring the Cold War. The Orwellian hypocrisy from the far left is astounding. Do we need smoking cities before AMerica realizes the far left is full of it.
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8 comments:
Hmm, what a difficult issue to tackle. Personally, I have mixed feelings about racial profiling. While I understand your point that police work on probability and are just trying to keep everyone 'safe' at the same time I think it can go too far and I wonder where is the line drawn. I am from New Jersey, and only a few years ago this was being discussed but with blacks at the centerpoint. It was contended and actually proven that while driving on the highway blacks were pulled over two to three times more than whites. While you might argue that is just the police doing their job, I argue, based on crime statistics comparing the proportion of whites committing a crime to blacks, its racist and there racial profiling is way out of control.
I also think about the Japanese internment camps during WWII. You cannot argue that wasn't racial profiling and I hope you wouldn't argue that it was justified either.
Beak, I get your point and again I do agree with it to some extent but once you open the door it does not neccasarily mean you will be able to close it...at least without long term detrimental effects.
There is a difference between profiling for reasons of prejudice and criminal profiling.
Lets turn the tables a little to ease your squeamishness.
Scenario:
A white supremacist group has vowed to place bombs at NAACP events. How much time are you going to waste checking out the blacks, latinos and asians than attend?
If your answer is that you check everyone, you are wasting time and assets. To abandon common sense for principle or political correctness is shear idiocy.
I heard a great term on WMAL Radio yesterday; a caller brought it up: "risk profiling." Works for me!
PS: I was never much of a radio talk-show listener until all this flap with WMAL/CAIR.
warren you are using a bad example. Why? Because you already narrowed down the pool tremendously. If the guy is a white supremicist, obviously you are looking for a white guy. Now, if a crime has been committed and all we know that the guy drives a toyota camary, why should blacks be pulled over more often than whites? thats just plain streotyping. point is - you gave a bad example of the tables being turned.
Bum from Jersey,
If the guy is a white supremicist, obviously you are looking for a white guy.
Duh!
So tell me how many muslim terrorists are white guys or old women, or old men for that matter. They have been Middle Eastern young men.
Now, if a crime has been committed and all we know that the guy drives a toyota camary, why should blacks be pulled over more often than whites?
What if we know its a black guy driving a Toyota, or a Asian?
Lee Boyd Malvo (alias John Lee Malvo), along with John Allen Muhammad, committed the Beltway sniper attacks. Ten people were killed and three wounded and the higher eschelons of the police knew they were looking for two black men, but refused to release that information, in large part because of the same reasons you are giving. A lot of time was wasted looking for anybody in a white vehicle.
There are something like 468 subway terminals in greater NYC, alone. Do you propose metal detectors, bomb sniffing dogs and full body serarches for everyone that passes through?
Think about it.
we aren't arguing the same point. when beak said he was pulled over, he wasn't pulled over based on his racial make up but rather because he had new york liscense plates. unless the police were looking for someone from new york, i don't see the reason why to pull him over. here in nj, i see plenty ny, n. carolina, pa, and georgia plates but i don't see a rush or a demand to pull them over so why should it be any different in rhode island.
if there is a apb out for a black person in a toyota camary thats much different than pulling over more black people than white people who drive toyota camaries. again, the field has been narrowed and certainly its understandable to pull over black drivers who drive a camary than white drivers. but if all the information you are given is that he or she is driving a toyota camary, there is no justification for pulling over more black drivers than white drivers.
and yes, i am fine w/ everyone getting the same treatment when all we know is that a person has a bomb. while you are jaded by the media that the only people who hate america are muslims and those of middle eastern discent visit the mountains of w. virginia or the backwoods of michigan and many other places in this great country where you will find 'typical americans' who despise this country. timothy mckvey (sp?) and his accomplices did not show up out of thin air and are not anomolies. so if all we have to go on is that a person is carrying a bomb in nyc - i say search everyone. if we are given more information than that - then there is no need. different situations call for different approaches.
bum,
Any truth to the rumor of a study that showed African Americans were 3x more likely to "speed" >80 mph on the Jersey Turnpike than non-whites?
Just Wondering...
-FJ
Well done on a nice blog beakerkin. I was searching for information on used metal detectors and came across your post this post - not quite what I was looking for related to used metal detectors but very interesting all the same!
If you have a moment, why not hop over and take a look at my report on metal detectors.
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