So a police officer shows up on our porch

[dave29]

late one evening. This is about a year and a half ago.

He asks if we are the owners of a Honda Civic with the license plate XXX-XXXX. We tell him we traded in that car a few months back. He explains the car has been in an incident at a mall with some "gangbangers". He never asks for our ID's. He takes us at our word and leaves, and we never hear from him again.

We are a white couple in our mid-thirties.

The dealer never reported the title change to the DMV.

I am writing this to show the different treatment we received in a yes, different case from the Gate's case, but somewhat similar.

How did he know we weren't part of the gang?

How did he know we weren't involved?

Why did he not ask for our identification? Why did he not ask to come in?

Sure, we did not "break into" the house (although I once had to "break in" to the same house through a window, and no one reported me).

Racial profiling is real. Mr. Gates had every right to be angry.

[Robb]

1. Yep.

I just imagine how this would've gone with some batshit crazy old white man yelling at the officer about being part of the New World Order and how he was going to put a tracking chip in his scrotum or something.

"Oh, that's just crazy Earl." And laugh. And shake head. And walk away. And not arrest anyone.

[Ikonoklast]

6. "...he was going to put a tracking chip in his scrotum or something."

Please, from now on, when you post something completely insane, put a disclaimer on it.


You had be blowing a snot bubble with that one.

[Robb]

22. Sorry.

Usually the "Robb" in the author field is adequate warning. :D

[izzybeans]

2. My in-laws came to visit us in Chicago. They were driving down Western Ave.

when all of the sudden they were surrounded by 5 or 6 unmarked police cars. Cops jumped out of their cars with guns drawn, when they saw my white in-laws they said sorry and that their car matched a description of a get away car from a bank robbery. My father in law wondered if he was more upset about being surrounded like that or because the cops looked at him and assumed he couldn't rob a bank. They never even talked to him, took his id, nothing.

All the cops said was there car matched a description. Imagine if Professor Gates was in that car.

[Captain Hilts]

5. I was pulled over on the 401 in Ontario for driving with a Virginia license plate.

There was a lot of cigarette smuggling.

I did not fit the demographic but had to go through the license, registration, insurance go through.

[izzybeans]

7. Happened to me in Canada too. They went through our bags.

I did fit the demo. Young college kid, long hair.

[Captain Hilts]

9. On the train ALL men/boys between the ages of 15 and 45 had their luggage searched.

I went through a phase the past several years where I was constantly being 'randomly selected' for a garage search.

The last time I told them, "you picked the right person because I'm getting good at this it happens so often!" They typed my SSN, birthdate, shoe size, everything in a computer and said, "you're right, we don't have to search you. Have a nice day." The US and Canada - and I was being searched by both - are combining their records, so they could tell I've gotten the going over a LOT lately.

[izzybeans]

10. I'm not so sure they were looking for cigarettes on us though.

Marijuana more likely.

our bags were searched again on the American said that year.

Only happened to me once though.

[Captain Hilts]

12. Yes, on the train it was drugs. They would train the dogs and one time they actually

stopped the train in the middle of a field with cop cars on each side and went through the train.

There is a huge drug trade - miami - NYC -Toronto. So there is a logic to what they do. The area between the Delaware Mem Bridge and the Jersey Turnpike is another high intensity site for catching drug trafficking.

[Captain Hilts]

3. A cop appeared at our door and asked for the car with license plate xxxxx, and we said

the car has been razor blades for years. We produced the old plates.

Ends up someone said that plate had mooned them on the highway. He insisted on evidence and he got it.

We're white.

[dave29]

4. whats funny is I read that as you mooned the cop ;)

.

[Ikonoklast]

8. That's how I read it, too!

I pictured them dropping trou so the cop could say, "Nope, those aren't the buttcheeks described by the complainant. You folks have a nice day."





:P

[mkultra]

15. if he didnt get it, he still would have just left.

[Captain Hilts]

23. You're obviously unfamiliar with how nasty the Va. Beach police are. They once

arrested a man from Pittsburgh for riding a rented bike on the boardwalk because it had no light. He rented it on the boardwalk and the boardwalk is lighted. He spent several hours in jail.

They are nasty and yell at you for no reason. My father - a white senior naval officer - thought us kids were making this shit up, then one time while being directed around a wreck on the road found a police officer leaning in the car yelling at him for no reason. He realized what we'd been talking about.

They're bastards and on father's day went to my neighbor's house to arrest him for telling a cop's kid to stop throwing rocks at his kid. He was told he didn't have to report until the next week. Father's Day, a team of cops show up, he hands his two kids to a neighbor, he's handcuffed and driven away - all in front of his kids on Father's Day. All participants were white.

[mkultra]

25. Sounds like they are in need of an asston of civil suits

[Captain Hilts]

27. Yes, they are. I hope this incident gets cops and people to giving this issue

some serious thought. I doubt it, though.

[cleveramerican]

11. Downtown Boston @ 2PM , bright sunny day

sitting at a red light
arm reaches in window
gun to my head
plain clothes cop flashes badge, looks into the back of my HVAC service van, sees the tools,looks me over.
Bank robbery two blocks away, navy blue ford van was the getaway vehicle.
Cop apologized a ran away through the traffic
whole thing took maybe twenty seconds
I am white and it scared the shit out of me.

[Captain Hilts]

13. He was in a hurry and at least he had the courtesy to apologize. I've gotten something like that

on a military base.

[CoffeeCat]

14. Gun to your head?!?!

They can just put a gun to your head...without saying anything?

Geeez. I have PTSD, and I can't be so sure that I wouldn't massively wig out if someone
put a gun to my head!

I guess I'm lucky that I'm a middle-aged white woman.............

Sheesh.

[8 track mind]

36. Man if something like that happened to me

I would probably be dead or seriously injured for trying to break the guys arm.

[stray cat]

16. Were you breaking in to your house?

[mkultra]

26. correction: had anyone reported you as breaking in to your house.

by that time, gates was well inside his own home.

[busymom]

17. Two years ago at 3am

our carbon monoxide alarm went off. We didn't know what to do (LOL) and we had 5 children sleeping in the house. We called our local police department and they sent two officers out. The first thing that they did was ask my husband and I for ID...and we are white...and are the ones that called. They did not enter our homes until seeing our ID.

I was pulled over by a police officer 2 months ago. I had a flat tire on my van and didn't even realize it! I was about 1.5 miles from my house and asked her nicely (after stepping out of my car and gasping at my tire) if I could just drive home (I know...in retrospect, that was stupid. I shouldn't have driven another second). She told me that she would not LET me drive (even though she technically could not hold me). She insisted that I provide my license and insurance information even though I was not speeding, hadn't broken any laws and I don't think I appeared disheveled or intoxicated (LOL). She called the tow truck for me using my AAA information and waited until they arrived before leaving. I suppose I could have gotten my knickers in a twist about it since she and I were of different ethnic backgrounds, but I think she was trying to be helpful. I thanked her profusely before she left.

[Captain Hilts]

28. I was pulled for an out of date inspection sticker. The cop couldn't let me go until

my i.d. etc. had been cleared. It took a while because a woman in Chicago had used an identical birthdate to commit a world of check forging. So, the cop and I had to sit there and chat for a while.

It was on a stop like that the cops caught Timothy McVeigh.

[Raineyb]

29. What is your point?

That the police are nice to white people? We already know that the police treat white people better than they treat black people.

[busymom]

31. That I was hassled a little

especially with the tire thing. Seriously, it isn't a crime to drive on a very, very flat tire. Stupid? Yes, I confess that I just wanted to drive home because my AC is broken and I didn't want to listen to the kids fighting another minute...but she had no legal justification for holding me but she refused to...let me drive. I could have made a stink about it but I didn't. Would the extra mile have prevented an accident? damage to car? maybe. I didn't go off all half-cocked.

And btw...she and I were NOT of the same racial and ethnic heritage...but I'm not sure that matters. I just sucked it up, got my ID and took care of business.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slackmaster]

18. He probably had some knowledge about the racial and ethnic makeup of gang involved in the incident

I suspect it wasn't a white mid-30s married people type of gang.

[busymom]

19. LOL Can't wait for the racial profiler peeps to jump on this ...

[slackmaster]

20. I was once attacked by a prematurely partially bald Sociology teacher gang

It was pretty scary. They tried to shake me down for directions to a nude beach.

[busymom]

21. LOL!!!

[dave29]

37. actually I was waiting for someone to make a comment like this

it was a group of white and hispanic kids involved in a fight in a mall parking lot. We read the complaint. In our 1600 square foot place, any one of those kids could have been in any of our rooms.

So yes, he probably did have some racial and ethnic information. Pray tell, what is the normal ethnic and racial makeup of a group of gangbangers?

[Splinter Cell]

24. My Mother and I...

were driving to meet some relatives in the middle of winter and our car broke down. We managed to push it off the road, and while I'm standing there trying to figure out the problem, a cop car drives past. He was in no hurry, and made eye contact with me. He didn't bother to ask if he could help. Ten minutes later another cop does the same thing. No help. No asking if we're ok. This was back before cell phones had taken off, so we had to go to a couple houses until we found someone at home and asked if we could use their phone.

[OneBlueSky]

30. similar thing happened to me . . . a cop appeared at my front door . . .

and asked if I was the owner of a particular Toyota Celica . . . when I informed him that I'd sold the car a month prior, he took me at my word, apologized for the inconvenience, and left . . . I happen to be white, but don't know if that mattered in this case, which happened in Massachusetts . . .

[slackmaster]

34. You acknowledged having owned the car previously, the car wasn't there, your story made sense

DMV paperwork snafu? Nobody would have a problem believing that.

[Life Long Dem]

32. Yes,

And although the cop may be a fine police officer, don't believe the cop is being truthful. No matter how polite and sincere the cop may sound they still will lie, it's part of their job in fact when questioning someone.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

33. I'm a white guy (and I have the papers to prove it)

That being said, I have several African Americans colleagues and acquaintances. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM has a story to tell about been hassled (to one degree or another) by the police.

My favorite is the 20-year-old son of an engineer that I worked with. The son was an intern at my company (an engineering major in college like the old man). A great kid, an obscenely smart and focused kid. I personally was stoned at least half of my twentieth year. So anyway, the kid's car is in the shop and his girlfriend drops him off at about 4:00 on Friday to pick it up. Girlfriend drives off, and then the kid discovers that the garage mechanics close up early on Friday for happy hour and softball. So the kid calls his dad (girlfriend doesn't have a cellphone -- this was ten years ago) and Dad is on his way to pick him up. The kid is just standing out on the sidewalk in front of the garage.

Cops pull up. Ask the kid for his ID, which he gives them. Cops says that they've had a problem with burglaries in this neighborhood and they're just being sure.

Now the kid (did I mention he's smarter than I ever was at that age?) just smiles and chats up the officer for a minute and they part company.

Me? I would have gone effing ballistic. Making sure of WHAT, you frigging cracker?! Do burglars typically hang around in broad daylight during the afternoon rush hour? Does my standing of the 'effing sidewalk make me a burglary suspect?

Another acquaintance talked about being pulled over and getting out of his car with the officer's gun drawn on him. The kicker? The guy was a police officer, and the guy holding the gun was from his own police force.

Did Gates over-react to the situation? Absolutely. But given then history of police-community relations, it's entirely understandable.