So i had my truck searched on friday

Hello joetro, wondering when you were gonna chip in. lol

 

LOL, yeah, I've been watching the exchange.
Racial profiling is necessary, regardless of what the bleeding hearts think. Not necessarily fair, but necessary, nonetheless. As for comparing street crimes to white collar crimes, that's just ludicrous. Let's look at terrorism; why should middle eastern males be targeted for profiling? Because middle easter males are the largest perpetrators of terrorist acts. Period. There are many types of profiling and most of it justified for obvious reasons.

 

Me too...

The training emphasis on "street" crime certainly is understood... However, is it really needed everywhere? Inner city communities aside, there should be a balance on the type of crimes prevalent in a given area... If a certain community has little to no violent/drug crime(yes there are some out there) should more emphasis be placed on "white collar" enforcement? To my knowlege, this is not happening... Why? Perpetrators of white collar crimes usually are much better at defending a conviction(better attorneys/legal advice) Therefore, making it harder and more costly to convict them... Make no mistake, these crimes(white collar) are just a prevalent, likely more, than typical "street" crime in any given city.

My point is "white collar" crime has been around since the cradle of civilization. A long long time......

Nice! LOL!

 

The key word in understanding why this happened, is perspective. You have to put yourself in the shoes of the officer. At the academy, they study characteristic behavior patterns that are clues to criminal intentions, or behavior patterns that suggest evasion and guilt, meaning the crime had already occured. When you stopped to check your directions, then stepped out to double-check securement of your load (I'm guessing you were pulling a flatbed), the officer suspected you were waiting to meet with someone to hand over a sealed package. I'm outside of Los Angeles, and this is how drug runners distribute narcotics.

If it were cocaine, it starts as pure and undiluted from abroad. When it enters the USA, it has to be processed by reducing its potency. Remember Janis Joplin died of a heroin overdose in 1970 ?? She was sold pure uncut heroin; the dealer had assumed she was going to dilute and reduce its potency.

You didn't mention if the officer had apologized when they couldn't find drugs on board, so I'm guessing you had a tone of voice and body language that clearly implied "I hate LEOs" (law enforcement officer) In the future, I suggest you try to be polite, no matter how wrong the officer may be. There's the adage, "you can catch more flies with honey, than vinegar." I think the officer suspected you were hostile in your demeanor because you had prior arrest. When your name came back clean, I'm guessing he took your fingerprints and ran them through DOJ data bank to ascertain you had not adopted a new identity to hide your criminal background.

People who have prior arrest and had served prison terms often have a hostile demeanor to all LEOs. Had you been polite and shown yourself to be eager to cooperate with an LEO, it would have helped diminish (or eliminate) his suspicions that you were in the process of distributing illicit drugs. Myself, after seeing the worst that an LEO can do to violate your civil rights (for example, Rodney King), I have so much more to gain, and nothing to lose by being polite to an LEO. This means smiling, let him know you sympathize and support the LE community, and perhaps using reverse psychology. Had I been in your shoes, I'd tell the officer "I need to write this delay on my logbook. Anything beyond 15 minutes 'on-duty, not driving,' the company I pull for pays me by the hour. You're really doing me a big favor by holding me up, cause I'm making more $$ right now." Then engage in a lively conversation, like talking football, baseball, the weather, etc... to pass the time. Your behavior will convince the officer you're not a criminal element of society.

 

Profiling without cause is NOT needed, and is against the very freedoms we stand for in our country. Now IF, a middle eastern male received 20lb of blood agar gel(known medium to cultivate anthrax) then by all means scrutnize/question/arrest him every time. If not, assume the person is not a threat unless there is some evidence showing he is a threat.

Think of this hypothetical situation:
Say someone does a study that states caucasian males that drive pick-up trucks and SUV vehicles are 83.2% more likely to commit child abuse... Therefore, any time a cop sees children in these vehicles w/a older male they scrutnize/pull over... talk to the kids etc... Just due to the statistic and race profile... Sounds stupid, but that is what it's like....

I drive an SUV

 

"Laughing", Passingtrucker I totally agree, when life hands you lemons make a porterhouse out of it.

 

has become a very interesting discussion....

 

Uh-huh. What if said ME male received the substance you describe without anyone's knowledge? Since profiling is baaad, nobody checks him out and he goes about creating the anthrax and dispensing it somewhere in your town, killing your children. But I guess that would be okay because you can feel warm and fuzzy knowing that you made sure the guy's feelings weren't hurt by mean ol' profiling.

 

If the ME male did receive the substance, then the racial profile would not have worked in the first place... and likely will NEVER work.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is terrible that terrorists attack innocent people and I condemn ANY such act. However, giving authority to, in this case our gov't, to remove our civil liberties(racial profile/suspicionless checkpoints etc...) Will NOT work in stopping terrorist acts(it's intended purpose). The only thing we lose, is our civil rights.

Let me explain why. If a said terrorist wants to attack America, they will find a way, no matter how tight our security IS and CAN BE.

Example: Every conceivable precaution has been taken to give convicted crimminals in prison a safe place to do time... However, savvy offenders still find ways(despite efforts by the guards) to make weapons and use them. It happens all the time, and likely will still happen even if the authorities "crack down" even more...

Perhaps the only way to fight terrorism is through education...

I actually used to feel the same about this as you do, that is, until i read the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act effectively removes most, if not all, of our Constitutional Rights... which scares the crap out of me.

 

I asked for your opinion about the games or nature of the reported officers' behavior. Please do.

As a member of the public I don't expect to get disrespected from any public official, or officer, nor do I believe they should be disrespected. But respect goes both ways. Finally I don't believe that TWO Wrongs make a right. So if the trucker was being a rude D... H... the LEO did not have to be one in return.


I spent 15 years as a public servant with the powers of arrest with broad statutory powers. But that did not give me the right to respond to negative behavior in less than professional manner. Any action I did was not personal. It was not MY law that was being violated, it was not my position to Judge that person. My response was to specific behavior that was in violation of the law. I did not personally judge the person from the law that they were breaking as being the totality of their being.



The key role of any government employee is to educate and provide information for the person they are dealing with coupled with statutory actions such as yours to maintain a safe commerce that utilizes the roads for that purpose.