4 ms·

Santa Clara city has some racist cops. I was pulled over, accused of DUI, arrested, illegally searched my car, brought back to the station for a blood test. Blo

Santa Clara city has some racist cops. I was pulled over, accused of DUI, arrested, illegally searched my car, brought back to the station for a blood test. Blood test came back with zero alcohol in my body. They treated me like I was criminal, finger printed, mugshotted. After being held for two hours, I had to pay $300 to retrieve my car from the impound. I guess we still have a lot of bad cops in the Silicon Valley then we thought.

roflchoppa 10y ago
when i had to pay a ticket at the santa clara court house the cops there are a bunch of smart asses. Except for that black cop who was at the door, he was very helpful.
- trungonnews 10y ago
  Agree, officers of color are usually nicer. The Asian cop who helped me retrieve the impound release paperwork was nice to me. Even waived the $100 paper work fee. But I'm still pissed about the whole situation. Wasted three hours and $300 because of some cop decided to arrest a sober person to kill time rather than patrolling the street and catching the real criminals. Edit: had to change colored to officers of color to be more PC.
  - roflchoppa 10y ago
    What a complete waste of time, impound lots are even worse, i assume they did not give you an opportunity to call someone to get your car. No breathalyzer on spot?
  - otterley 10y ago
    I'm sure you didn't intend any offense, but for future reference, "colored" is considered archaic and borderline racial-epithet in the U.S. (I realize it's quite normal and non-offensive elsewhere.)
    - trungonnews 10y ago
      I didn't mean to offend. What word is more appropriate to describe cops who are not white?
      - sfrailsdev 10y ago
        Person of Color or POC. You might say, "Cops who are People of Color."
      - beisner 10y ago
        "Officers of color" is more palatable.
      - trungonnews 10y ago
        I only learned English after 11 year old. What a confusing language... I thought you guys might know some fancy word, but you only switched the words around.
        pessimizer 10y ago
        If someone had made up a fancy word, would that have been better for you? Just accept what people want to be called. Calling black people in the US colored is fraught with problems; I'm sure you wouldn't go to Northern Ireland and call people Fenians.
        SwellJoe 10y ago
        Race relations are complicated in the US (and in most of the world). A term that wouldn't seem problematic can become problematic because of its historical context. That's the case with many racial epithets in English...words that seemingly have no negative connotation can take on negative connotation when used for a period of time to insult or separate people based on their race, religion, origin, gender, sexual or gender identity, etc. No one blames you for not knowing; all you're responsible for is how you respond and correcting future usage. The appropriate response is something along the lines of, "I didn't know. I will say X in the future. Thanks for the heads up." And, if you haven't been told what a better option is, you can generally ask without causing upset.
Meegul 10y ago
How is it at all legal for the government to demand payment for something when you are not convicted of a crime? It's effectively a 100% discriminatory, corrupt, and unaccountable tax. Completely reprehensible.
- duaneb 10y ago
  This isn't even the most absurd part about citizen/cop cash transactions: under civil forfeiture, they can take up to (iirc) $10,000 of your cash no justification or remediation path. Really, all they need is a traffic stop or a (suspect) smell of cannabis in the air.
  - SwellJoe 10y ago
    There is no such limit, in most jurisdictions, as far as I know...and, if you happen to be carrying a lot of cash, it is viewed as evidence of wrongdoing. Hell, Oklahoma has begun using a device that allows them to take money from debit cards, as well. My position on police has evolved over the years to the point where I don't even really believe in "good cops", anymore. The entire system seems built to excise honest cops and reward bullies; I can't name a single whistle-blower cop who has kept their job, while the crimes they documented have generally gone entirely unpunished and the perpetrators often remain on the police force. The only reasonable path forward I see is tearing the whole damned system down and starting over, with a focus on prevention, rehabilitation over punishment, restitution when plausible, de-escalation rather than military style raids, and overall a lot better training in psychology and community policing and less training in how to kill and maim people.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- trungonnews 10y ago
  I didn't pay the cop. I had to pay the towing company. The cop told the towing company to impound my car.

roflchoppa 10y ago

when i had to pay a ticket at the santa clara court house the cops there are a bunch of smart asses. Except for that black cop who was at the door, he was very helpful.

trungonnews 10y ago
Agree, officers of color are usually nicer. The Asian cop who helped me retrieve the impound release paperwork was nice to me. Even waived the $100 paper work fee. But I'm still pissed about the whole situation. Wasted three hours and $300 because of some cop decided to arrest a sober person to kill time rather than patrolling the street and catching the real criminals. Edit: had to change colored to officers of color to be more PC.
- roflchoppa 10y ago
  What a complete waste of time, impound lots are even worse, i assume they did not give you an opportunity to call someone to get your car. No breathalyzer on spot?
- otterley 10y ago
  I'm sure you didn't intend any offense, but for future reference, "colored" is considered archaic and borderline racial-epithet in the U.S. (I realize it's quite normal and non-offensive elsewhere.)
  - trungonnews 10y ago
    I didn't mean to offend. What word is more appropriate to describe cops who are not white?
    - sfrailsdev 10y ago
      Person of Color or POC. You might say, "Cops who are People of Color."
    - beisner 10y ago
      "Officers of color" is more palatable.
    - trungonnews 10y ago
      I only learned English after 11 year old. What a confusing language... I thought you guys might know some fancy word, but you only switched the words around.
      - pessimizer 10y ago
        If someone had made up a fancy word, would that have been better for you? Just accept what people want to be called. Calling black people in the US colored is fraught with problems; I'm sure you wouldn't go to Northern Ireland and call people Fenians.
      - SwellJoe 10y ago
        Race relations are complicated in the US (and in most of the world). A term that wouldn't seem problematic can become problematic because of its historical context. That's the case with many racial epithets in English...words that seemingly have no negative connotation can take on negative connotation when used for a period of time to insult or separate people based on their race, religion, origin, gender, sexual or gender identity, etc. No one blames you for not knowing; all you're responsible for is how you respond and correcting future usage. The appropriate response is something along the lines of, "I didn't know. I will say X in the future. Thanks for the heads up." And, if you haven't been told what a better option is, you can generally ask without causing upset.

Meegul 10y ago

How is it at all legal for the government to demand payment for something when you are not convicted of a crime? It's effectively a 100% discriminatory, corrupt, and unaccountable tax. Completely reprehensible.

duaneb 10y ago
This isn't even the most absurd part about citizen/cop cash transactions: under civil forfeiture, they can take up to (iirc) $10,000 of your cash no justification or remediation path. Really, all they need is a traffic stop or a (suspect) smell of cannabis in the air.
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  There is no such limit, in most jurisdictions, as far as I know...and, if you happen to be carrying a lot of cash, it is viewed as evidence of wrongdoing. Hell, Oklahoma has begun using a device that allows them to take money from debit cards, as well. My position on police has evolved over the years to the point where I don't even really believe in "good cops", anymore. The entire system seems built to excise honest cops and reward bullies; I can't name a single whistle-blower cop who has kept their job, while the crimes they documented have generally gone entirely unpunished and the perpetrators often remain on the police force. The only reasonable path forward I see is tearing the whole damned system down and starting over, with a focus on prevention, rehabilitation over punishment, restitution when plausible, de-escalation rather than military style raids, and overall a lot better training in psychology and community policing and less training in how to kill and maim people.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
trungonnews 10y ago
I didn't pay the cop. I had to pay the towing company. The cop told the towing company to impound my car.