Hey, look, Racial Profiling

[ArcticChicken]

Disclaimer:This story is third hand.

A guy I know has a co-worker who was recently stopped by a cop. The cop had him thrown against a wall, the whole nine yards. Another cop pulls up.

C1: The original cop.
C2: The new guy

C2: "What are you doing?!"
C1: "He matches the description of the suspect!"
C2: "Yeah, except the suspect isn't black!"

[Pairou]

...wow.

....

just wow. @___@

[BethB]

Serious??! These are people who are paid to serve and protect and carry a gun. time to take away the gun and give him a super soaker.

[One-Fang]

LOL. Yeah, this is what happens when you aren't allowed to use race in profiling the suspect.

[Evil Queen]

...Are we colour blind?

[Soulstealer]

...Are we colour blind?

I hope so otherwise the coworker might have a disrimination law suit.

[powerboy]

I hope so otherwise the coworker might have a disrimination law suit.

Might not have a lawsuit. They are not suppose to use Race anymore.

[Amina516]

im waiting for the .....

Seriously, its time for people to move forward to quit the racist BS...

[crazylegs]

They are not suppose to use Race anymore.

Eh, how does that work?

[TheSnakeLady]

I used to have a coworker who was from India, and he looked it. He got a speeding ticket, and the cop put his description down as "white".

[ArcticChicken]

LOL. Yeah, this is what happens when you aren't allowed to use race in profiling the suspect.

Might not have a lawsuit. They are not suppose to use Race anymore.

Actually, this was an incident where race was a perfectly acceptable factor to use in stopping somebody. The police had a description of the suspect. That description included his race. C1 didn't pull him over because he matched the description of the suspect, except that he was black and they're not allowed to consider race, C1 pulled him over because he either A) wasn't listening to the description and assumed the suspect was black (racial profiling) or B) for shits and giggles.

Racial profiling is the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act

So, racial profiling is when the Arab guy gets searched at the airport, or when the security guard pays special attention to the black kids, not when the police arrest a suspect based off a description that happens to include his race.

[Geek King]

Guys, I have to step in here. The story in the OP is an old cop joke. As far as I know, the incident has never happened. I have run across it several times, in different forms, and it has popped up several times when politicos are argueing about zero-tolerance racial profiling laws. It's just used to illistrate the absurdity of throwing out race altogether when looking for suspects.


Now get off my lawn!! Durn kids.

[Shangri-laschild]

Might not have a lawsuit. They are not suppose to use Race anymore.

That might only be in some departments. I've never heard of that and our department does use race if we're trying to describe someone.

[Anriana]

I used to have a coworker who was from India, and he looked it. He got a speeding ticket, and the cop put his description down as "white".

My understanding is that there are lots of state forms with limited racial options, especially in the less progressive states.

[Chromatix]

...without even an "other" option? Most forms I've seen where race, nationality, religion or whatever was at issue, would have the common options followed by "other".