Our sheriff talks a lot about neighborhood policing and reminding people that it is the job of the police to respond to calls. I can see if there was a car nearby that cruising or doing minor traffic duty they might send it over. It makes the person who called it a little happier (they responded when I called) and if done right they can also encourage the kid and smooth the situation.
It could also have gone wrong and I think there was no reason to call the police but I’d rather they respond and do their job responsibly then blow off a caller.
If the police could be trusted to do their jobs I’d agree that having them respond rather than the racist neighbour head out to terrify the kid would be preferable. Or could have ended with racist cop showing up to deal with an armed (with a lawnmower) black trespasser.
In a functional situation, 911 and the dispatcher triage calls. Like I’ve called some number of noise complaints in, to 911 as my community asks me to do, and they send a squad when they can but don’t like stop everything to tell some teenagers to turn their subs off.
The inability for young black men to drive nice cars without getting harassed for it is a known issue and has been the subject of those nightly news shows, 20/20 etc, a number of times over the years.
Having said that, he was doing something a little unusual with a bar and the hood of his car, so I think it’s fair to say that the police response here was at fault and maybe less about the person who called. I don’t know why they seemed to have spent zero time looking up who owned that car and resolving the matter quickly and without incident, and then double downed on this resisting arrest crap…
So now we can’t call police when we see a dude look like he’s jimmying a lock. Because if he’s black they’re going to over-react.
Fucking great. Not being able to trust the police. In 1988, the NWA song “Fuck the Police” was far away for me, I’m glad that it’s getting called out so we can see that this is right in our faces every day…
Fuck the police coming straight from the underground
A young nigga got it bad 'cause I’m brown
And not the other color so police think
they have the authority to kill a minority
Fuck that shit, 'cause I ain’t the one
for a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun
to be beating on, and thrown in jail
It was a real eye-opener for me to have a black housemate in grad school. We parked in the same place, and we drove to the same places, obviously. His car (BMW) was much nicer than mine. I got pulled over once in three years, and I absolutely deserved it. He got pulled over about once a month, usually for bullshit reasons.
This was in Washington, D.C. Most of the cops were black, too. Evidently, that doesn’t change how they profile. At least he wasn’t jailed, beaten or shot.
I believe, and this is what I am told, the blue outweighs any similarity in race. The problem is firmly rooted in police culture. I wouldn’t’ be surprised if black officers over compensate even, but I am not sure if that is really a thing or not.
Completely agree. If it wasn’t clear I’m lamenting the fact that I can’t just “call the police” anymore because who knows if you’ll get the ones that will be reasonable or the ones who will just start shooting/beating all the nearby black people.
I won’t call the police if there is a minority involved unless it’s a life or death situation, and even then, it’s crapshot to know if the police will understand which person is the threat.
