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Wow, all these stories have a common denominator... everyone's harsh views are based on interactions with only a few police officers.
I was a decoy police offcer for a few years in the subway. I had been robbed dozens of times and had been involved with dozens of other operations. 95% or more of the arrests that resulted from the decoy operations were of black & hispanic men. I have been shot at by a black man & others have tried to seriously hurt me over the course of my career. I do not harbor the same resentment towards all black & hispanic men that most of you have for police officers. Some of you have argued about stereotyping & biased attitudes. Look at what has been written in this thread.... cops are being painted with a very wide brush. Disturbing.
I think your the one being overly sensitive. For the most part people have just been sharing their real life negative experiences with P.O's. The person who had the most negative things to say about P.O's was a White poster!
It happens all the time and people shouldn't take it so sensitively.
One of the reasons the colonists rebelled in 1776 was to protest unreasonable search and seizure.
I'm not an ultra-libertarian zealot but even I have a problem with people becoming desensitized to, and unquestioning of, any unprovoked stop, search or seizure. People should always be suspicious of police stopping them, and no, you really don't have to let police search your bags on the subway. It's your right to say no if the police cannot produce a warrant. I have great respect for the police but greater respect for my rights. We're not in a police state yet; eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
I think your the one being overly sensitive. For the most part people have just been sharing their real life negative experiences with P.O's. The person who had the most negative things to say about P.O's was a White poster!
Yes, we have heard some of the negative experiences and I can understand the frustrations. How about hearing some positive experiences with the NYPD, anyone have a positive story?
One of the reasons the colonists rebelled in 1776 was to protest unreasonable search and seizure.
I'm not an ultra-libertarian zealot but even I have a problem with people becoming desensitized to, and unquestioning of, any unprovoked stop, search or seizure. People should always be suspicious of police stopping them, and no, you really don't have to let police search your bags on the subway. It's your right to say no if the police cannot produce a warrant. I have great respect for the police but greater respect for my rights. We're not in a police state yet; eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
If your not doing anything wrong and have nothing illegal in your bag, and the purpose is to keep everyone safe, what is wrong with searching your bag?
If your not doing anything wrong and have nothing illegal in your bag, and the purpose is to keep everyone safe, what is wrong with searching your bag?
For one, because it's mine, it's private, and I don't surrender my privacy that easily. One of the nice things, I feel, about being American, is that it's okay for me to want to be private. For instance... if you have nothing illegal in your house, would you mind posting its entire contents here on the internet for everyone to read? Of course you'd mind! It's your private business.
And two, because it's a slippery slope, IMHO. You give a little bit -- you surrender a little bit of privacy 'for the common good' -- but where does it stop? If you surrender that power once, authority will come to expect you to always surrender it.
If you are entering the subway, at times police have done bag searches, which are legal. There are many circumstances under which an officer could search your bag without a warrant.
You are absolutely right. Anywhere you go these days, your bags are searched. I brought my son to the circus at Nassau Coliseum and had my bag looked through. We have 9/11 to thank for this. Unfortunately, this is the way of the world now and people need to get used to it.
baylover...I dont see anyone having negative sterotypes..we are sharing our experiences and why cops have to be the way they are. If you read through the comments you see that we agree overall it is a necessary evil and dont necessarily blame the cops..or all cops.
Furthermore...I believe you when you say that 95% of the time you were accosted by someone it was a black/hispanic male. But I would like to also know..were you stationed during those times in East New York or Midtown? Were you riding the trains through Mott Haven..or Central park West? If you were in 90% black/hispanic neighborhoods...logic dictates thats who will attack you....and the same logic goes for Woodlawn, or ChinaTown...or wherever you are assigned at the time. Now if you are in Chinatown, Woodlawn, Bayridge, Midtown..etc and 95% of the people attacking you are Hispanic/Black..that's a different story.
Wow, all these stories have a common denominator... everyone's harsh views are based on interactions with only a few police officers.
I was a decoy police offcer for a few years in the subway. I had been robbed dozens of times and had been involved with dozens of other operations. 95% or more of the arrests that resulted from the decoy operations were of black & hispanic men. I have been shot at by a black man & others have tried to seriously hurt me over the course of my career. I do not harbor the same resentment towards all black & hispanic men that most of you have for police officers. Some of you have argued about stereotyping & biased attitudes. Look at what has been written in this thread.... cops are being painted with a very wide brush. Disturbing.
the difference is that a cop has the power to legally restrain you, whereas an average citizen does not. thats the issue. so of course i'm afraid to death over somebody who wields that power in an unjust manner. and i cannot determine who's who because i'm not a mind reader. so sorry to say, i harbor the same resentments for all cops. no offense towards you baylovers because you're a fellow beach guy like me. (rockaway)
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
Anyway, I could only get away with doing a decoy in Midtown & Lower Manhattan or the white areas of Queens & Brooklyn. The bad guys were always suspicious of a "drunk" white guy in the hood. The first time I got ripped off was on Canal St.... Times Square & Grand Central Station were my mainstays.
I have also relayed in previous threads that the "good samaritans" far out numbered the thieves. It pretty much cemented, in my mind at least, the notion that the majority of people in the city were good and I gladly tried to root out the bad guys.
I guess I may have come across as unintentionally harsh in my posts but the point was that there are 35,000+ police officers in the city but folks have cast wide aspersions after limited interactions or hearsay. It is fairly hypocritical, especially when one also says the police stopped my because I was _______. (fill in the racial blank)
Last edited by baylovers; 05-14-2008 at 10:27 PM..
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