Some people, especially men of color, report being harassed by police officers. They often feel that police are not for them, as they are for some members of our society, but against them… making their lives more risky, more dangeous, even deadly. Attesting to this, Jay at MontClair SocioBlog posted a graph he put together based on this article about the NYPD. It shows that, sure enough, when the police stop people on the street in New York, it almost always results in… nothing:
See also this post that shows, with data, that racial profiling doesn’t work.
Comments 7
mordicai — March 3, 2009
You know, I don't mind getting stopped by the police, as long as they are acting legally & in general being nice. Which isn't the reality, boy I know. I'm also a white male; so that skews me. Frankly, I've had relationships with cops on the beat-- not cops as friends, that isn't what I mean, but when I was a manager at a retail outlet, we had an officer that actually gave a crap about her beat.
I'm just musing! I miss that officer, she did her job, & well.
Anon — March 3, 2009
That's the thing. Most cops are really good people. I'm not an officer myself, but I deal with a lot of them in my line of work (being vague on purpose here). By and large they are good-hearted people in it for the right reasons. But those aren't the ones you hear about. The news doesn't show the officer who did his/her job well, they show the "bad cop" who is really in the minority. They just stand out more.
Cops are like any other segment of the population. Some accountants are assholes. Some cops are assholes. But scarier because they have guns. I get that, and I (and the good cops) hate those guys as much as anyone. But it bothers me that so many good people are blamed for the actions of the few horrible ones.
mordicai — March 7, 2009
Anon-- I think "hiding behind the shield" is a big part of the reason illegal police actions stir up resentment. When there IS wrong doing, even flagrant wrong doing, there is a culture of cover-up & denial that go along with it-- & more often than not, that succeed in denying justice.
Emergent Culture - The Work: The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization–Now What? — March 10, 2009
[...] POLICING THE STREET Some people, especially men of color, report being harassed by police officers. They often feel that police are not for them, as they are for some members of our society, but against them… making their lives more risky, more dangeous, even deadly. [...]
Emergent Culture - The Decline and Regeneration of Western Civilization? — March 13, 2009
[...] POLICING THE STREET Some people, especially men of color, report being harassed by police officers. They often feel that police are not for them, as they are for some members of our society, but against them… making their lives more risky, more dangeous, even deadly. [...]
Emergent Culture – Open letter to President Obama by Carmen Yarrusso: Our Political System is a Threat to Humanity. — October 7, 2009
[...] POLICING THE STREET [...]
Racial Profiling in Toronto » Sociological Images — March 6, 2010
[...] also our posts showing how the stopping of people on the street usually results in… nothing (other than people feeling ha... and how racial profiling turns out to be ineffective anyway. var addthis_language = 'en'; 1 [...]