Why are the police the only group penalized for alleged racial profiling?
Recently, the Connecticut ACLU has been squawking about the fact that they can’t get racial profiling data from the police.
According to the CT News Junkie site, the Conn. ACLU is protesting that “there was a failure and refusal to fulfill the obligations” of the Alvin Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act. According to this site, “Under the legislation passed in 1999, municipal police departments were supposed to report traffic stop data to the state on an annual basis. The data was then going to be analyzed for racial profiling.” Both the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association and the Office of Policy and Management oppose the law on the basis that it is a de facto unfunded mandate, and that they do not have the money or manpower to fulfill the obligations of this law.
So the Democrat controlled legislature and the ACLU want money and manpower spent to “police the police” if you will, under the presumption that the police are guilty before proven innocent?
Ironically, or typically, if you prefer, the government routinely commit acts of “do as I say, not as I do” when it comes to racial profiling: federal and state governments routinely practice racial profiling through racial quotas, hiring practices and “affirmative action”. In each case, a potential employee is assessed racially, and in many cases, assessed differently with a bias towards specific (not all, mind you) minority groups, better known as “protected groups”. The fairly recent decision by the U.S. Supreme court decision against the city of New Haven (who would have guessed?) and for the firefighters who were unfairly discriminated against demonstrated that the liberal talk a good game of “equal opportunity” but when the results don’t go the way they want, they will default to the cherished liberal goal of equality of result. To hell with hiring the best candidates: if the standards have to be lowered for any person or group, then that is tacit admission that they did not meet those standards. Discrimination in the workplace cannot be remedied by discrimination in the testing/selection of candidates.
So racial profiling is “bad” when practiced in the interests of catching criminals, but “acceptable”, even preferred, when hiring to “increase diversity” or meet some racial quota? Hmmm. Do I detect another double standard from the Bizarro world of Democrats?
The left talks (propagandizes, actually) a good game of equality, usually while simultaneously accusing conservatives of being racist (an act of purest psychological projection), but the theory keeps turning out to be racist in practice. Put the Penn Act in the same category as Connecticut’s motorcycle helmet law and let the cops do their job.
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The cops don’t want to do anything anyway so doing less appeals to them. It’s just a coincidence 90% of people in jail are unmarried males & 1/2 of them are black.
Great post, Dims. Indeed, welcome to the bizzaro world of Democrats.
Yes, let the cops do their jobs. Case in point. Avon, I believe, ran afoul of stopping “minorities” traversing the highways through their town. Bad cops or vigilant defenders? The police have known that the destination of many of these motorists was Winsted. Winsten has a large minority population. That said, it is also a fact that drug availability has increased there since, ahem, the minority population has grown. And who, you might ask, has been arrested in connection with drugs? You got it!
So, are the cops in Avon profiling or doing their jobs?
If little green men from outer space settled in the U.S., would they be a minority and be afforded equal opportunity protection? Preferential hiring?
A realist is not? a racist.? Bizarro world residents do not see the distinction.
“Let the police do their job” ???
It got so bad there that the DOJ investigated.
How about the police harassing a Hispanic store owners (it’s on tape) and parking their cruisers around these stores and stopping patrons upon leaving? Many have gone out of business as people were afraid to go there.
There are reports of police brutality.. like pepper spraying people’s faces while they were handcuffed in a cruiser…beatings in the jail, etc. It wasn’t just racial profiling.
It’s too bad the good cops have to suffer through this but the racism and abuse of power that has been rampant in “Staven” (know it well-you don’t want to drive through there, either) has to stop. They need to clean house.
No one is saying that the police or any other group of workers does not have “bad apples” and unfortunately ALL are condemned. But Dims, as always has written a highly intellectual post with a subtle point of? “double standard from the Bizarro world of Democrats”. In the height of discrimination, I knew personally of top high school students who? graduated from college in 3 years because they took so many college courses in high school. They were denied places in Medical schools even with higher grades because they were white. Quotas don’t you know. However, police are condemned for racial profiling by Libs. Instead MOST police do not use racial profiling, they use behavior profiling. Watching a driver drive erratically probably means? either drugs or alcohol and maybe even selling them.
Hi Lynn!
Well, first of all, I don’t know what police have to do with democrats, I guess I just assume EVEN republicans would decry the actions of some of the EH officers.
Secondly, I don’t know what police have to do with medical school, However, being familiar with the admissions process, it has been years since med schools have admitted applicants based on grades. They weigh heavily your extracurricular activities and work experience. The ave SAT score of a med student is the same ave as a college student. They have long ago realized that a bookworm with no other interests has a high? med school drop-out ratio or? makes for a poor md. They also now prefer older students (a nurse will make it before a new grad.)).
Enough of side tracking.
I did say ( if you reread) that I felt badly for the cops who were not involved. And who the heck wants a cop to NOT stop an erratic driver? Again, nothing to do with EH.
Truly, as in many professions, the bad apples need to be weeded out.? A strong no tolerance policy from the top would do that, but if a black “person of interest” is arrested by a white cop, there is an automatic presumption in some places that the arrest was racially motivated.? Much like any criticism of ?bama is racially motivated!
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Why do the good cops have to suffer, and worse, the taxpayer have to suffer, to weed out the bad cops?
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Secondly, why isn’t the same presumption placed on “affirmative action” hires?? Shouldn’t applicant review committees have to fill out the same paperwork for review by the ACLU and the “African-American Affairs Commission” (to name one unnecessary and racially biased commission…)??
Hi Cystal! Ok don’t want to sound like a preacher. Police have nothing to do with Democrats or Medical schools. Democrats do have something to do with double standards as Dims makes very clear below. The white students I was talking about were athletes and as a matter of fact one taught my (sort of height deprived) son the technique to jump high hurdles, so he was very patient and caring. They also were class leaders with MANY interests. It was racial quota period.
OK…so any abusive behavior by “bad cops” should be overlooked because there are “good cops”.? (wow..even though this has been investigated since 2009 by the DOJ to make sure there were no false allegations??)
Therefore , if teachers or the clergy prey sexually on young students, it should be overlooked because there are “good teachers” and “good ministers” that can be hurt by this…..but we could save money because it is at the taxpayers expense that they are investigated and prosecuted!!!
The only ones who continues to cry about criticism of Obama being perceived as racism are the repubs…well, the rightie ones.. ? and it’s getting old.
And bringing in affirmative action into a discussion of racist behavior and abuse of power is an analogy I just can’t get, sorry…makes absolutely no sense.
No, you totally missed the point of the post.? Indicate where I said that “abusive behavior by bad cops should be overlooked” or something like it.? You can’t.? The should be weeded out with all speed, and that is what Attorney Generals, among others, are for.? Nor did I say that pedophiles should be “overlooked” in any way.? I think they should be publicly hung.
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Claims that criticisms of ? are getting old and only cried by Republicans?? How about the NYTimes editorial on 1/5/12: http://loyalopposition.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/nobody-likes-to-talk-about-it-but-its-there/ .? You might also want to check out this list from Newsbusters: http://newsbusters.org/search/node/racist%20racism
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And you really can’t understand that affirmative action, a race based quota policy, is racist behavior?? Really?? Anything based on racial discrimination, which affirmative action clearly is, is inherently racist.? Apply the test: if asians were preferentially selected for jobs over blacks, would it be racist?? Yes.? If whites were picked over hispanics, is it racist?? Yes.? If generally accepted standards for employment are lowered or removed to enable people of a particular race or sex or religion to…
…to be employed over those that meed the standard, is it racist?? Yes.? And stupid.
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Now what didn’t you understand again?
Second preacher comment. I am for all bad apples to be judged by their peers and weeded out Teachers should be evaluated and pay increases by merit as should clergy. Full review of all state and federal employees, if they don’t meet standards OUT.? Police should have review of records by peers, fellow police officers know who use threats or rough up suspects or those who routinely go to shops and take lobsters and high priced items for free (as was done in Madison CT).? Doctors and lawyers judged by their profession. My personal affront, CPAs should not use intern accountants to do income tax returns for seniors without supervision.? One let my mother go without documenting her legitimate set aside for donation of land up until she had a lien on her property. I had to deal with the IRS (they were nice) to clear it up. I know this is way off, but I am equally hard assed on ALL professionals and employees. Sermon over
Lynn, nice, “judged by their peers”? here’s the REAL world. Good cops don’t rat on bad cops..it’s Omerta. Personal experience with this . Long story short, I was friendly with many cops in my 20’s. 1 started showing up at work, at my first apartmnt. Very nice, I worked nights , he wanted to protect me, he said…follow me home, came to my aprtmnt w/a new lock, etc. Thankfully, I kept refusing dates (I am a little psychic).? I got a letter from “anonymous members of the &%#* police force” telling me NOT to go out with him. He beat his g/f’s and was known to go into holding cells and beat the women who were there.? Did they ever rat him out, no.
As far as md’s…know how hard it is to get an atty who will handle a malpractice case? The hospital witnesses-md’s and nurses will RARELY testify against 1 of their own-has to be repeated and egregious happenings-and the atty’s know this and that is their only chance to win.
Sorry, hon,? but this ain’t candyland you’re living in.
And yet you want to trust the “bad apples” to truthfully fill out one of these forms?? I submit to you that it is these legislators and purveyors of racial quotas that are living in an alternate universe, i.e. the”candyland” of the bizarro world of Democrats.
Meanwhile, back at the post: the fact is that the police are being asked to provide data that is extrapolated from their activities. For example, a motor vehicle stop is made and the officer finds cause to issue a ticket or a summons to court. There is a record of that encounter which includes, among other things, gender, race, etc. Whoa right there. Is a Hispanic person black or white? There are only three races. (We are talking about racial profiling.) Hispanic is actually an ethnicity. So, how are the police, beat cops or administrators, answer the ACLU’s request for data. Or, has political correctness now made Hispanic or Latino or Native American a race? How are the police to answer the question that the ACLU wants answered racially? This is a lose-lose for the police. This is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) making work for the town or state police.
It’s not the job of the police to provide data to a NGO. That is a waste of your and my tax dollars.?
What if more White people, as a percentage, are stopped than any other race? Is that discrimination against Whites?
Thanks JBS, you brought us back to focus on the ridiculous legislation to give the ACLU some real fire power. I really had no idea of the questions that our police would be required to answer.? Then people have the nerve to ask why the police response can be slowed. They are just stuck doing paperwork that is bizarro. If we had a decent General Assembly in CT, they would repeal this legislation.
Legislators, Dimsdale?? Whaaa? And throw Democrats into every mix. That’s bizarro!
So who wrote the bill, crystal?
Passed by house and senate and signed by REPUBLICAN governor.
Passed and written by Democrats, and signed (reluctantly or jubilantly?) by a governor whose veto could have been easily overridden by the Democrat super majority, right?
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Did you catch the word “Democrat”?? You are still missing the point of the post….
Naw, I get your point. The reason the Penn Act is under discussion NOW? is because of what has come to light with EH police and other towns (now New London). And your contention is that this law costs the taxpayers money.
The law enforces The Civil Rights Act of 1964.
But when the “papers please ” law was discussed here (AZ and AL), your quote was :”States doing the work that the feds refuse to do”.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/11/alabama_top10_economy.html
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No, you don’t.? The post is asking why the police have to labor under this presumption of guilt while other government agencies, particularly federal, do not.? Affirmative action is a primary example.? Address that.
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To answer the above post: it is the police and the OPM that are making the cost contention, correct as it is.? If this paperwork load was required in the CRA of 1964 (in isn’t), then why write legislation to duplicate the effort.? And why just traffic stops?? Why not jaywalking, burglary or, as in your earlier post, harrassing hispanic store owners or even stalking you?? Because the late Connecticut State Sen. Alvin Penn led a push for a state law banning racial profiling after he was stopped, apparently because of his race, while driving through Trumbull (will Nappier be next?).
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“Papers, please”?? Police routinely check ID, so why is checking citizenship any more arduous?? It isn’t like they are being asked to fill out reams of paperwork on each traffic stop etc. as with Penn.? Maybe it should be “papers, no thanks” for law enforcement.? Penn was allegedly stopped for not doing anything wrong, so we are supposed to ignore the law for those who…
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Your link has inspired another blog post, crystal!?? Thanks!? 😉
– If the cops aren’t supposed to racially profile, how would they have the information to give?
– If the cops use state approved forms that require the race of the potential?law breaker, then the profiler is the state not the police officer.
– If I am to give a description of a potential law breaker to a police officer,?will I be accused of racially profiling??
– Why isn’t the ACLU?going after the?census bureau???While I am white and not caucasian anymore,?there are 3 choices for?”the race that shall not be names”:? black, negro or African- American.? What is the difference anyway?? And why would the census bureau be so specific in their profiling?
And why aren’t liberal-progressive whites demanding hyphenated categories “Irish-American, Italian-American, etc.?
I wonder why the legislature didn’t provide a funding mechanism for the Penn Bill? I can only conclude that the bill was passed so that Blacks, of the Negro race, could provide statistics — damned lies — of how they are being targets of police attention.
Why don’t the Latinos want to be identified properly as an ethnicity?
When? Hispanics, the fastest growing ethnic population, growing either from immigration, legal and illegal, and phenomenal procreation rates, become the majority in the U.S., will Whites — Caucasians — become a recognized minority?
Will profiling backfire on the groups who think they can achieve political or judicial advantage through the selective application of the derived data?
Is the state guilty of racial profiling when a person’s race is indicated on I.D.?
Oh, the Census Bureau’s data can be used for social and political advantage by some groups, that’s why it is important.
Absolutely awesome….great questions for me to ponder….Nah, I’m on vacation!
Good for you! Some place sunny and warm, I hope?