I've worked around law enforcement for a long time in the capacity of an evidence tech and a 911 dispatcher. I also presently work in a law enforcement related job as a forest ranger.
However, I am a bit unique: I'm a bleeding heart bed wetting liberal card carrying member of the ACLU. What's that mean? My job is to enforce the rules, but my internal life philosophy is all about protecting peoples civil rights and treating people with respect. Even "dirt bags." :icon_chee
Part of the problem is that law enforcement find themselves dealing with the same 5% 90% of the time. The "bad guys" are the same bad guys over and over again. If you've been in criminal court more than once, you're inching toward being one of these people. You're becoming known as "frequent flier" in the local police lexicon. If you've had 2 or 3 police contacts beyond these couple of court appearances, you are definitely a frequent flier.
Ok, that said, there's also that 5-10% element of cops who are complete and utter ASSHOLES. I've worked side by side with these fucks. One guy says: "Time to go violate the fuck out of peoples civil rights..." every time he heads out on the street. Another guy I known has a similar motto: "Let's go breed some hate and discontent..."
It's also important to note that I had a sergeant say to me one night: "Time to put on the white hoods and chase these fucks out of here" in reference to some African American residents who had just moved into town (I live in a small hick town).
So the cops on here denying that some profiling and bias doesn't take place are full of shit.
HOWEVER, this particular family that moved into town DID cause a lot of problems. They actually started bumping their car into the rear bumper of my wifes car while she was stopped at a stop sign because they thought she should have pulled out instead of waiting for a couple cars to pass. She had two infants in the car at the time. Gives you an idea of the kind of stuff these guys were doing. Just stupid obnoxious shit that nobody was used to.
And the idea becomes: nope, we aren't going to allow this kind of shit to even start in our quite little town.
Problems occur when the dirt bag street punk comes up against the egotistical super cop. Things get ugly.
Aluminum Kam and Gregoic: you guys come off as very young, and at the same time full of bravado and gusto. You also come off as incredibly naive. I guarantee, GUARANTEE, there's not a single cop out there, even the billy bad asses, who want to write paper. If they can deescalate a situation to nothing more than a verbal warning, they will. Even the most Donkey Kong cop out there just wants to finish up his shift ON TIME without incident so he can get home and pop a couple cold ones in front of ESPN's SportCenter.
I have no doubt that black people still face prejudice that some of us white boys can never comprehend. But I also have no doubt that an illegal action is an illegal action, whether it's performed by a white, black, or latino person.
Also remember, the rules are not made by cops. The rules are made by the people in YOUR community. Essentially there's a social standard that the city you live in has defined: "We have agreed that these are the rules that this community shall follow."
So the next time you're being "harrassed", remember that your neighbors, the grocer, the gas station attendant, the used car sales man, the small business owner, they've all decided that whatever it is you are doing that has drawn the pigs to you, is WRONG. The community wants the cops to address you. The cops don't write the rules, they simply enforce them.