Racial profiling: "flat brim hats, twisty hair, [and] dirty beards"

[Baitball Blogger]

Bad cop story.

Orlando cop accused of racial profiling fired

In text messages exchanged with the woman, the report states, Peczinka said he looked for "flat brim hats, twisty hair, [and] dirty beards" when deciding which drivers to pull over and search.

He also used two racial slurs, the report says. In an internal affairs interview, he said one of the terms referred to people from the "hood," and the other referred to "black people," the report says.

Asked if those are the people he pulls over, he said "not every traffic stop," later backtracking: "I don't particularly base my stops on the people. I base it on the traffic infraction," the report states.

Investigators concluded Peczinka "illegally used physical or personal characteristics relating to race to conduct traffic stops," and used terms that "are racially inflammatory and appalling."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-orlando-cop-fired-racial-profiling-20131209,0,1518550.story

[Blue_Tires]

1. Well that can't be right...

since quite a few DUers are so quick to tell me racial profiling doesn't exist...

[Baitball Blogger]

3. I'm guessing there are more arrests in November.

(No Shave November)

[JustAnotherGen]

12. +1

Yes they did BlueTires - yes they did.

[gollygee]

2. I really think at least almost all police racially profile.

I don't think this is unusual, and it's good they're doing something about this one case but the criminal justice system needs to work on this in more of a big picture way.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. +1

It's not just the people they go after that we need to look into, but also the kind of people they elect to get off with just a warning.

[gollygee]

8. And the kind of people they don't bother to pull over

I'm a middle aged white woman in an expensive minivan. I don't mean to speed, but I do without noticing it, and I speed right by police way too often. Saying this out loud makes me want to knock on wood or I'll get caught, but I have NEVER had a speeding ticket. Nor have I ever gotten pulled over for having a light out or anything. My husband was speeding once and got pulled over and the police officer said not to worry about the speeding, he really just wanted to get a better look at the car.

Anyone who says there is no white privilege is an idiot. There's class privilege in my examples of me and my husband, but I think there's a multiplying factor there - class + race = more than class and race individually, or the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Around my area, from the court system to the police department, I do see favoritism.

Even in the DMV. Because my husband was in a business suit the DMV person tried to call him up ahead of some man who was dressed more casually. My husband replied, "Thank you, but he was here first."

[whathehell]

13. I'm a middle aged white woman in a not so expensive PT Cruiser & I've been pulled over many times..

and I'm not a speed demon, either...Usually it's just that unthinking thing you talk about like going a little more than 10 miles

over the speed limit, without noticing it.

[geek tragedy]

4. Sounds like he was profiling Lubavitchers. Weird. nt

[Chellee]

6. That was the first thing I thought too! nt

[hughee99]

7. Sounds like they're profiling orthodox Jews again. n/t

[Shrike47]

10. That was my thought, too.

[catbyte]

11. LOL, me too!

[Eleanors38]

14. Sounds like this Cracker after a 2-day deer hunt...

Add the smell, and the image is complete.