DWB in Dearborn?

[bust]

^as you probably have found out [[I know I have)... that once you hit 50 years old... police are much more polite to you than when you are in your 20s.

That's true, to a large extent. Not always.

An over 50 very close family friend had his new Lincoln Town Car break down on the West Side Highway in NYC and he had to pull onto the median. Basically trapped there due to traffic, he stood there for more than an hour trying to flag for assistance. Well-dressed. No one helped. He was black. When cops finally came they presumed he had stolen the car, treated him like a criminal, and only after that harassment begrudgingly provided help. That was about 20 years ago [[it was a new Town Car). But New York is at least 20 years ahead of most of the rest of the country when it comes to race relations, so still.

[bust]

The head/tail/brake lights is just the pretext to pull you over in hopes of finding guns, drugs or other felony offenses. If you're clean, the ticket is their consolation prize.

Ever see anyone jaywalk in NY? EVERYONE jaywalks in NY. But when the police aren't stopping black and brown young men for absolutely no reason, they have an undercover cop follow their target as he walks. As soon as he steps onto the street without a walk signal on a crosswalk, they have their pretext, and he's stopped.

[bust]

After better consideration of my recent posts I'll add a correction. New York is NOT at least 20 years ahead of most of the rest of the country with race relations when it comes to cops [[and firefighters, but they're still heroes -- especially after 9/11). There has recently been a noteworthy effort to diversify the force, but they've perpetuated a long history of racial injustice and brutality that continues among many to the present day. Of course not most of them.

Police union contracts make it nearly impossible to discipline a police officer, let alone fire them, without a criminal conviction. And that almost never happens. The old guard still exists, especially in the upper ranks.

Former NYPD Detective Scarcella has been accused of framing dozens of innocent men for crimes they did not commit. Decades later, and only recently, at least 12 have since had their prison terms overturned -- after wrongfully serving all this time in jail. Scarcella retired with full benefits years before any of this came to light.

I'm particularly upset by this sort of abuse of government power because I truly believe we need police to "serve and protect" us as they say. It's a dangerous profession, and noble -- right up there with serving in the military -- when it is performed with honor and ethics, as it should be. But if you have to worry about this shit it ruins it.

[bartocktoo]

Grosse Pointe Park PD does the same thing, they cruise the Kroeger lot in the Village checking the handicap stickers.
Also reminds me of what happened to the first Mrs. Alum back in the 80's, she was driving her brand new Firebird on I-96 and MSP pulled her over. She asked why and the Trooper actually told her the "She didn't look like she belonged in that car".

One thing that I think gets overlooked with the whole Grosse Pointe Police everything is that, outside of the Woods [[the park has the Cabbage Patch, but also HUGE homes), there are a lot of retired wealthy people paying incredibly high taxes that feel that they fund these departments and are entitled to barrage them with complaints and demands. I'm sure some of the extra patrolling, etc., is related to this. I think there are a lot of variables to this whole issue.

[Zacha341]

I do Bust. That particular incident was particularly horrendous in that it could NOT be said that he didn't comply. Sure the rush was on AFTER the fact to point-out-everything-negative, including about his girlfriend etc. ETC. but DURING the actual time-line of the stop he complied. Period.

Compliance is not always enough, especially for black men as we saw in that case [[and documented). So it's not a given that you just need to have all of your paper-work in order and be law-abiding and the like. Nope.

Do you remember Philando Castile? The black man killed by a police officer during a "routine" traffic stop in St. Anthony, MN -- an inner ring Minneapolis suburb 4 miles from downtown. It's 91% white and 2% black.

From the beginning of the encounter until he was shot dead 74 seconds later Castile was "compliant" and attempting to follow police instructions. 7 bullets in 7 seconds. His girlfriend live streamed his death from the passenger seat. Her 4-year old son was in the back. Follow the link if you must.

[Hypestyles]

... wonder when/if the US Census will change categories for Arab Americans..

"The data doesn't show arrests and citations for Arab Americans, who are classified as white by the U.S. government. More than 46% of the city is Arab American, the highest percentage among cities in Michigan."