6 ms·

A security guard with an pre-existing relationship with the cops who might pepper his statement with some drama that might or might not have happened to make su

A security guard with an pre-existing relationship with the cops who might pepper his statement with some drama that might or might not have happened to make sure you get either arrested or detained certainly has an authority over some random guy with a camera. Also, many police run on informal quotas and if there's a "letter of the law" arrest here then the cops will probably take it. The police not here to advocate for you and most are fairly ignorant of many important legal issues, especially in regards to civil rights. Why does everyone think calling the cops will magically solve everything and every cop is a honest truth teller immune from politics, bullshit, and bias? As someone who is classified as 'white' but has much darker skin than your average white person (I pass as arab easily), I can tell you, shit gets real when the cops are bothered and the guy closer to the bottom of the potem pole usually gets fucked, regardless of merit. The cops will just let the courts figure it out, so now you're in a cell, spending money on lawyers, etc because some high school drop-out making minimum wage as a security guard thinks you're a terrorist. Its just easier to just accept the bullying and go away. That's what the guy in the blog post pretty much did. He took a half-assed picture instead of the one he wanted and felt terrible after. How exactly did any of this make us safer? Who can he complain to? And if he did, who would even care? This shouldn't be the status quo in America.

enraged_camel 10y ago
Not sure why you were downvoted. I suppose some people just can't handle the truth, because you're absolutely correct. The police have the power to make your life hell, especially if someone reports you for "suspicious activity" and there is an even remotely plausible reason (e.g. "he is taking photos because he's planning a terrorist attack!").
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago
  HN heavily leans white suburban kid culture. I think when you make claims like I do that goes against their experiences and they simply don't understand. They don't understand situations when the police aren't automatically on your side. That's how life has always been for them. I remember one of the first times I was pulled over. I was driving my dad's car, which was a nicer but not terribly expensive, luxury model. The cop literally had his gun out in a battle pose as his partner approached my window. I thought that was normal until someone told me otherwise. Apparently, the cop thought the car was stolen and was expecting a gunfight due to how I looked (young dark guy in a bmw driving the way most teenagers drive). I'm decently well off now and don't often deal with this stuff much or just don't notice it anymore, but growing up I was certainly treated a certain way my white friends were not. I don't blame them if they don't understand this automatically. They never had those experiences and its understandable. But it is annoying to be auto-downvoted like I'm making all of this up or have some big agenda. I rarely talk about this stuff to be honest, mostly because of reactions like this.
  - pavel_lishin 10y ago
    You're right, most people don't understand just how lucky they are to be born that way. But those are exactly the people who should be standing up to this sort of bullshit, because they can do so with less risk.
    - stcredzero 10y ago
      Throughout history, some risks when doing activism as a privileged member of society: - Oppressing one group while championing another - Oppressing the group you are championing - Acting in anger and alienating potential allies - Acting in anger and discrediting potential allies
      - pavel_lishin 10y ago
        I mostly meant personal risk; I'm less likely to be severely harmed, physically or financially.
        ebfe 10y ago
        That's patently not true. You're far more likely to be harmed than, say, women or Asians, though the latter are oppressed.
  - Frondo 10y ago
    Thank you, thank you a thousand times, for sharing your experiences. I hope someone here reads it and realizes that other people experience a different (and usually less pleasant and more hostile) world.
- tangue 10y ago
  Exactly. Just remember the last tweets from Ian Murdock from Debian
- mhurron 10y ago
  If you do not stand up for your rights, you do not have them. So, how important is it to you? Unfortunately I do not live in or around NYC so all I can say is fuck the port authority.
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  > Not sure why you were downvoted Because of this: > Its just easier to just accept the bullying and go away. Someone has to stand up to the bullies, or they'll keep going forever. Obviously I'm coming at this from a privileged position - I'm a white male with a relatively clean background. My job and family situation would permit me to be detained, even for 24 hours, without catastrophic results. If I were black, or a Sikh, or here on a work visa, or working a job that I'm likely to lose if I don't show up with no notice, then I would skew more heavily towards the "ignore the bully". But I'm not, so I wouldn't.
  - angersock 10y ago
    So, here's the problem with "standing up to the bullies", explorable with one question: How did you feel about the shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge of officers?
    - saynsedit 10y ago
      I hope you're not implying that the logical conclusion of "standing up to the bullies" is police murder. Ever heard of non-violent civil disobedience? It was popularized by a little known guy named Martin Luther King Jr. He got it from another guy who went by the name of Mahatma Gandhi.
      - tremon 10y ago
        However tasteless and ineffectual in the long run, I think it is a logical response to the existing problem. Frankly I'm surprised it took this long, given that there is more than 20 years of documented case history of government officials being unaccountable for homicide.
        TallGuyShort 10y ago
        No it's not. People shooting random police are bullies as much as police shooting random people. Stand up to both. Police aren't the only people who get away with murder.
bpchaps 10y ago
Agreed, and I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted either. You speak the truth. I was mugged about two months ago in a pretty busy intersection and raised the issue when the investigation was 'suspended'. Even though the city's low on budget and such, it sounds incredibly unreasonable for an investigation to simply.. stop. So, a FOIA request for the camera data that received a "We have no responsive records for your request" response. I complained to the investigator, who seemed to be legally obligated to work with me. He told me that the investigation was never suspended since they were waiting for a response from me (not true) and that when they called, I didn't pick up (which makes perfect sense, since my phone was stolen - which is mentioned in the police report). When I started to ask the guy if he could help add an extra camera to that intersection, he absolutely refused to and basically called it a waste of time - even though it would help him and many others in the future. To get me off the call, he asked me if I had anything to drink that night, which I (naively) said "One drink four hours before the mugging." He then told me that because of that one drink, it would be impossible for me to verify anybody in a line up, closed the investigation, and ended the call 30 seconds later. It shouldn't be this way.
- stcredzero 10y ago
  "To protect and serve?" More like "To protect and serve...myself!"
- illumin8 10y ago
  You should file a complaint with the citizen's complaint review board. This behavior is unacceptable.
  - bpchaps 10y ago
    I'm already in over my head with a bunch of other things towards Chicago, so I'm honestly going to pick my battle and let this one go. It goes against my usual policy, but the stress got out of hand there for a bit.
  - drzaiusapelord 10y ago
    In Chicago the cops are reviewed by either retired cops or other police union stooges.
antonvs 10y ago
> This shouldn't be the status quo in America. It will be, as long as people take this attitude: > Its just easier to just accept the bullying and go away. You have to decide what's actually important to you.

enraged_camel 10y ago

Not sure why you were downvoted. I suppose some people just can't handle the truth, because you're absolutely correct. The police have the power to make your life hell, especially if someone reports you for "suspicious activity" and there is an even remotely plausible reason (e.g. "he is taking photos because he's planning a terrorist attack!").

drzaiusapelord 10y ago
HN heavily leans white suburban kid culture. I think when you make claims like I do that goes against their experiences and they simply don't understand. They don't understand situations when the police aren't automatically on your side. That's how life has always been for them. I remember one of the first times I was pulled over. I was driving my dad's car, which was a nicer but not terribly expensive, luxury model. The cop literally had his gun out in a battle pose as his partner approached my window. I thought that was normal until someone told me otherwise. Apparently, the cop thought the car was stolen and was expecting a gunfight due to how I looked (young dark guy in a bmw driving the way most teenagers drive). I'm decently well off now and don't often deal with this stuff much or just don't notice it anymore, but growing up I was certainly treated a certain way my white friends were not. I don't blame them if they don't understand this automatically. They never had those experiences and its understandable. But it is annoying to be auto-downvoted like I'm making all of this up or have some big agenda. I rarely talk about this stuff to be honest, mostly because of reactions like this.
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  You're right, most people don't understand just how lucky they are to be born that way. But those are exactly the people who should be standing up to this sort of bullshit, because they can do so with less risk.
  - stcredzero 10y ago
    Throughout history, some risks when doing activism as a privileged member of society: - Oppressing one group while championing another - Oppressing the group you are championing - Acting in anger and alienating potential allies - Acting in anger and discrediting potential allies
    - pavel_lishin 10y ago
      I mostly meant personal risk; I'm less likely to be severely harmed, physically or financially.
      - ebfe 10y ago
        That's patently not true. You're far more likely to be harmed than, say, women or Asians, though the latter are oppressed.
- Frondo 10y ago
  Thank you, thank you a thousand times, for sharing your experiences. I hope someone here reads it and realizes that other people experience a different (and usually less pleasant and more hostile) world.
tangue 10y ago
Exactly. Just remember the last tweets from Ian Murdock from Debian
mhurron 10y ago
If you do not stand up for your rights, you do not have them. So, how important is it to you? Unfortunately I do not live in or around NYC so all I can say is fuck the port authority.
pavel_lishin 10y ago
> Not sure why you were downvoted Because of this: > Its just easier to just accept the bullying and go away. Someone has to stand up to the bullies, or they'll keep going forever. Obviously I'm coming at this from a privileged position - I'm a white male with a relatively clean background. My job and family situation would permit me to be detained, even for 24 hours, without catastrophic results. If I were black, or a Sikh, or here on a work visa, or working a job that I'm likely to lose if I don't show up with no notice, then I would skew more heavily towards the "ignore the bully". But I'm not, so I wouldn't.
- angersock 10y ago
  So, here's the problem with "standing up to the bullies", explorable with one question: How did you feel about the shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge of officers?
  - saynsedit 10y ago
    I hope you're not implying that the logical conclusion of "standing up to the bullies" is police murder. Ever heard of non-violent civil disobedience? It was popularized by a little known guy named Martin Luther King Jr. He got it from another guy who went by the name of Mahatma Gandhi.
    - tremon 10y ago
      However tasteless and ineffectual in the long run, I think it is a logical response to the existing problem. Frankly I'm surprised it took this long, given that there is more than 20 years of documented case history of government officials being unaccountable for homicide.
      - TallGuyShort 10y ago
        No it's not. People shooting random police are bullies as much as police shooting random people. Stand up to both. Police aren't the only people who get away with murder.

bpchaps 10y ago

Agreed, and I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted either. You speak the truth. I was mugged about two months ago in a pretty busy intersection and raised the issue when the investigation was 'suspended'. Even though the city's low on budget and such, it sounds incredibly unreasonable for an investigation to simply.. stop. So, a FOIA request for the camera data that received a "We have no responsive records for your request" response. I complained to the investigator, who seemed to be legally obligated to work with me. He told me that the investigation was never suspended since they were waiting for a response from me (not true) and that when they called, I didn't pick up (which makes perfect sense, since my phone was stolen - which is mentioned in the police report). When I started to ask the guy if he could help add an extra camera to that intersection, he absolutely refused to and basically called it a waste of time - even though it would help him and many others in the future. To get me off the call, he asked me if I had anything to drink that night, which I (naively) said "One drink four hours before the mugging." He then told me that because of that one drink, it would be impossible for me to verify anybody in a line up, closed the investigation, and ended the call 30 seconds later. It shouldn't be this way.

stcredzero 10y ago
"To protect and serve?" More like "To protect and serve...myself!"
illumin8 10y ago
You should file a complaint with the citizen's complaint review board. This behavior is unacceptable.
- bpchaps 10y ago
  I'm already in over my head with a bunch of other things towards Chicago, so I'm honestly going to pick my battle and let this one go. It goes against my usual policy, but the stress got out of hand there for a bit.
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago
  In Chicago the cops are reviewed by either retired cops or other police union stooges.

antonvs 10y ago

> This shouldn't be the status quo in America. It will be, as long as people take this attitude: > Its just easier to just accept the bullying and go away. You have to decide what's actually important to you.