Dateline exposes evidence of racial profiling/DWB in US cities

[Lefty48197]

It's on tonight's episode. They have gathered statistics that show that African-American drivers are ticketed at two or three times the rate of Whites, for non-moving violations, such as expired licenses, no insurance certificate etc. etc. The statistics seem to show that the police are pulling over Black drivers, solely to look for a major violation, and then having to settle for the minor violations (well, at least in SOME of the cases). I don't think this is too surprising, but it's nice to see that somebody is paying attention.

[DrWeird]

1. This is old news.

It's reported now and then but nobody does anything about it.

[walmartsucks]

2. I think it's becoming more a case of

DWP, or driving while poor. All you have to do is watch the show "Cops". The majority of traffic stops are all people who would not be considered well-to-do. In urban areas it's almost always blacks, in more rural areas it's almost always scraggly-looking whites. It appears to me that people are not discriminated against based on race nearly as much as they're discriminated based on socio-economic status. But then, that's just my opinion.

[MonicaR]

4. Nope, It's By Race

If you sit ten African-Americans down and ask us if we've ever been pulled over by a cop, nine out of ten will say yes. This cuts across economic lines in the African-American community.

To give you an example of a traffic stop that happpened in Webster, TX (a suburb of Houston) several years ago.

A well dress African-American woman driving a BMW is pulled over by an officer on Bay Area Blvd. When the woman asks why she was pulled over, she was disrespectfully talked to and placed under arrest by that officer. After being held at the station for several hours without charges, she was let go with a profuse apology by the arresting officer and his commander. Reason?

The woman that they arrested was former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison, the first African-American female in space.

She later sued the Webster Police Department and the case was settled for an undisclosed amount of cash.

So yes folks, DWB still happens.




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[SemperEadem]

6. I think the reason why you see poor people on there and not rich

is because the poor, somewhere along the way, are signing releases to the production company to use their likenesses on air. People of means probably would be more likely to balk---more likely to call a lawyer and threaten lawsuits and not sign releases.

Perhaps there's a reduction of the poor people's sentences or leniency in charges if they sign the release for their likeness to be aired.

[dArKeR]

3. Ticketing by race in 12 cities - link

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4703833/

Plus you can input your comment.

What I've been asking for for 3 years are the stats on ticketing of police throughout the USA. You'd see police, spouses, and direct family members do NOT get tickets. Been going on for 40 years but never reported in the media. Is this Fair and Balanced? If so, then it should be up front and clearly told to the citizens who are paying their salaries. Isn't that the moral and honest kind of thing to do? Isn't that what our parents and grand parents taught us how to be?

[SoCalDem]

5. My son was involved in a DWB "incident" and he's WHITE..

He was on his way to a Laker's game with 4 friends. Three were black and the other friend is Hispanic.. The Hispanic friend's sister was a Laker Girls, so they got PRIMO seats (The Jack Nicholson section..in fact he bought hotdogs for all the guys one time )..anyway on the way there, they got stpped by the Highway Patrol;.. not speeding..

The kid driving was driving his Dad's Lincoln Navigator.. The highway patrolman made the three black guys get out of the car and put their hands on the hood of the car.. My son got indignant and got out and asked what was going on.. The guy snapped at him to get back inside the car, unless he wanted "some" too.. My son refused to get in and so he was "put on the hood" too.. The friend that remained inside called his Dad on the cell phone, just in case they had real trouble..

The cop did not believe that the driver should be driving "that car".. He ran the plates, checked ALL the drivers' licenses, and the insurance...and then said.. "Don't you boys be speeding... I'll be right behind you"... and he did follow them all the way to the lakers game..

My son was FURIOUS..

[SemperEadem]

7. the cops do this because they know they can get away with it