Quote :

"I'm an upper-middle-class white man who's driven through some shitty neighborhoods before, either because of being unfamiliar with the area, or because google maps directed me there, or because it's the quickest route to my destination. I wasn't looking for drugs or hookers, and I wouldn't want to be stopped and questioned."

And how many times have you actually been pulled over for driving through these neighborhoods?

There's a big difference between "hey, that car on 22s is passing through the rich part of town" and "hey, that car on 22s is doing laps around the neighborhood" and only one of those will probably get you stopped and for good reason.

I just don't see the point in being combative/purposefully uncooperative to someone who's main interest is to make sure people are safe.

8/13/2008 10:01:39 AM

"Shady" is a very subjective quality. If I were to go to a public park where children were playing, the paranoid overprotective moms would think I was a child molester, just because I'm a man with shaggy hair and a beard. So should the cops come and shake me down? My dad once said he doesn't dare say hello to little kids because their parents are so damn paranoid.

On YouTube I saw some videos made by a guy who kept getting pulled over because he was wearing a helmet while driving his car. He'd had a head injury and had to wear the helmet for protection, but paranoid motorists called the cops thinking he was a terrorist or something. That's right, helmet=terrorist.

Honestly, cops have too much discretion as it is. They stop people for driving down the same street repeatedly, or simply for not "fitting in", or being out after midnight in a residential area. Changes should be made that require hard evidence to detaining someone, not just "reasonable suspicion," which is too subjective.

8/13/2008 10:07:56 AM

Yes, but you're citing issues where the someone asked for police involvement, which could be said for pretty much any of the scenarios that you've just pointed out.

My concern is that you're essentially arguing that allowing people to circle neighborhoods in the middle of the night unchecked is a positive because you feel you know the motivations of every cop who has ever stopped someone doing it.

8/13/2008 10:24:36 AM