3 ms·

Another way of looking at it: Someone's visual attributes combined with their behavior caused a concerned neighbor to call the police. Yes, profiling does work

Another way of looking at it: Someone's visual attributes combined with their behavior caused a concerned neighbor to call the police. Yes, profiling does work, statistically speaking. Yes, it sucks to be profiled, but yes, (potential) victims are also very thankful when profiling does stop a crime. My advice: if she is really concerned about this, she should work on reducing crime perp stats for black people.

eridius 11y ago
That's some very serious victim blaming you have going on here. You should be ashamed of yourself.
- kelukelugames 11y ago
  I'm shocked by how little empathy people have.
- sparky_z 11y ago
  I agree that his comment shows a rather callous disregard for the victim's feelings, but it doesn't really blame her for anything.
- johansch 11y ago
  I refuse to be ashamed of thinking that profiling based on visual appearance works, since it obviously does. What can be called into question though is the mentality of US police: "Shoot first, ask questions later." They should learn from European police in this regard.
  - DrScump 11y ago
    '...the mentality of US police: "Shoot first, ask questions later."' That's a ridiculous and unfair generalization, especially for the present day. Police collectively have hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of encounters with civilians every day, in contrast with how many unjustified officer-involved shootings there are. This isn't the Jim Crow era South... or Hollywood.
    - GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
      I agree, they don't tend to bother with the questions anymore.
  - wan23 11y ago
    I'd like to question your assertion that such profiling obviously does work. A quick google search finds plenty of material claiming the opposite, but since you said it I was wondering if you could back this up at all.
    - johansch 11y ago
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/what-israeli-airport-secu_b_4978149.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/what-israeli-air...
      - wan23 11y ago
        If I'm reading this correctly, the security methodology is to screen all people who arrive at the airport with trained agents using "age, race, religion and destination" to determine how the interview should go. This is somewhat different from the kind of profiling we are talking about because a) they screen everyone who passes through and b) their assumption has to be that nearly 100% of people passing through the airport are innocent vs this kind of "that guy looks guilty" profiling. I have some links: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/07/profiling.html https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/07/profiling.htm... - a blog post by someone respected by many here on when profiling can be effective vs the risks http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/racial-profiling-terrorism-statistics/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/racial-profiling-t... - discussion of when it might be appropriate statistically based on a study I haven't found anything that implies that it would be effective in this sort of case.
Hnrobert42 11y ago
Your answer to her numerous, valid complaints about the police's lack of transparency and show of force is for her to decrease the percentage of crime committed by people that look like her? That is, you believe a more effective article would have read, "Fellow minority women: please stop committing a disproportionate amount of crime. In light of your changes, my neighbor will not call the police the next time he sees me outside my apartment with a locksmith. Even if he does, at least the police the will respond more moderately and transparently." I'm not trying to be inflammatory. I'm trying to illustrate that your suggestion does not address her concerns about police transparency and overreaction. Try not to dig your heels in. Consider that in this case you may have focused on the wrong thing.
fallinghawks 11y ago
> she should work on reducing crime perp stats for black people. You're suggesting that a vice president of strategy at a multinational corporation should take on the responsibility of reducing crimes committed by people of her own race? This makes about as much sense as suggesting a Java programmer should do something about reducing the number of methamphetamine users.

eridius 11y ago

That's some very serious victim blaming you have going on here. You should be ashamed of yourself.

kelukelugames 11y ago
I'm shocked by how little empathy people have.
sparky_z 11y ago
I agree that his comment shows a rather callous disregard for the victim's feelings, but it doesn't really blame her for anything.
johansch 11y ago
I refuse to be ashamed of thinking that profiling based on visual appearance works, since it obviously does. What can be called into question though is the mentality of US police: "Shoot first, ask questions later." They should learn from European police in this regard.
- DrScump 11y ago
  '...the mentality of US police: "Shoot first, ask questions later."' That's a ridiculous and unfair generalization, especially for the present day. Police collectively have hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of encounters with civilians every day, in contrast with how many unjustified officer-involved shootings there are. This isn't the Jim Crow era South... or Hollywood.
  - GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
    I agree, they don't tend to bother with the questions anymore.
- wan23 11y ago
  I'd like to question your assertion that such profiling obviously does work. A quick google search finds plenty of material claiming the opposite, but since you said it I was wondering if you could back this up at all.
  - johansch 11y ago
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/what-israeli-airport-secu_b_4978149.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/what-israeli-air...
    - wan23 11y ago
      If I'm reading this correctly, the security methodology is to screen all people who arrive at the airport with trained agents using "age, race, religion and destination" to determine how the interview should go. This is somewhat different from the kind of profiling we are talking about because a) they screen everyone who passes through and b) their assumption has to be that nearly 100% of people passing through the airport are innocent vs this kind of "that guy looks guilty" profiling. I have some links: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/07/profiling.html https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/07/profiling.htm... - a blog post by someone respected by many here on when profiling can be effective vs the risks http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/racial-profiling-terrorism-statistics/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/racial-profiling-t... - discussion of when it might be appropriate statistically based on a study I haven't found anything that implies that it would be effective in this sort of case.

Hnrobert42 11y ago

Your answer to her numerous, valid complaints about the police's lack of transparency and show of force is for her to decrease the percentage of crime committed by people that look like her? That is, you believe a more effective article would have read, "Fellow minority women: please stop committing a disproportionate amount of crime. In light of your changes, my neighbor will not call the police the next time he sees me outside my apartment with a locksmith. Even if he does, at least the police the will respond more moderately and transparently." I'm not trying to be inflammatory. I'm trying to illustrate that your suggestion does not address her concerns about police transparency and overreaction. Try not to dig your heels in. Consider that in this case you may have focused on the wrong thing.

fallinghawks 11y ago

> she should work on reducing crime perp stats for black people. You're suggesting that a vice president of strategy at a multinational corporation should take on the responsibility of reducing crimes committed by people of her own race? This makes about as much sense as suggesting a Java programmer should do something about reducing the number of methamphetamine users.