
My white neighbor thought I was breaking into my own apartment - subdane
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/11/18/my-white-neighbor-thought-i-was-breaking-into-my-own-apartment-nineteen-cops-showed-up/?tid=sm_tw
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jack-r-abbit
I quote the author: _Not long ago, I was walking with a friend to a crowded
restaurant when I spotted two cops in line and froze. I tried to figure out
how to get around them without having to walk past them. I no longer wanted to
eat there, but I didn’t want to ruin my friend’s evening. As we stood in line,
10 or so people back, my eyes stayed on them. I’ve always gone out of my way
to avoid generalizations. I imagined that perhaps these two cops were good
people, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what the Santa Monica police had
done to me. I found a lump in my throat as I tried to separate them from the
system that had terrified me. I realized that if I needed help, I didn’t think
I could ask them for it._

I'm not sure what she intended to say with this closing paragraph but it seems
like she has come to realize why some people get uneasy around certain other
people. If you have had bad experiences with some members of a particular
group (cops, PoC, lawyers, etc) you might have reservations about future
interactions with other members of that group. Even if she doesn't like that
she has those thoughts, she is admitting to trying to avoid some people just
based on her past experience. This is exactly what other people get called
racist for feeling. Something to think about.

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mc32
When I was in HS I forgot my keys, I tried climbing in thru the second floor,
neighbors called the cops, cops showed up and asked for ID, showed it to them
and incident over.

I didn't get mad at my neighbors. I'm rather grateful they were looking out
for neighbors' property, even if they didn't take the time out to determine if
it was me or a burglar. I don't expect them to call out to me to confirm I was
the person who lived there. Another occasion, my friend lost keys to a chained
up scooter. So we took a cutter, it was not easy to break the lock, neighbors
seeing us also called the cops. We looked suspicious. Breaking into my house
looked suspicious and I'm glad the cops came to investigate. They're supposed
to.

Now, it's true, they didn't point guns at me/us in either occasion, but my
friends who had similar incidents did have five cops with guns show up in a
different instance, maybe because it was night.

I should also point out, I do believe the police have overmilitarized over the
last decade(s) and overly aggro, but that does not mean I want them to stop
from doing good policing (investigating suspicious activity)

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jrwoodruff
I once accidentally mistook my white neighbor as a burglar, as he tried to
break into his front door with a plastic snow shovel at 3 in the morning. At
least a dozen cops showed up - six police cars, including a K-9 unit. Needless
to say I was embarrassed and felt bad, but my neighbor was too drunk to
remember. This is in Michigan, so it really does seem to be common practice to
send half the force to a burglary in progress. The cops handled it well.

On the flip side of that, cops in Ohio illegally entered my brothers apartment
with guns drawn while he was at work, terrifying his wife who called him
saying people were breaking in, causing him to race home at very unsafe speeds
while trying to contact the local police. When entering they didn't identify
themselves, laughed at my sister-in-law, and didn't apologize for having the
wrong address. Despite checking with a few lawyers, they were told there's
nothing to be done other than file a complaint with the police.

~~~
johansch
As a European, this just reinforces my belief that South Park is a
documentary, not a comic extrapolation of reality... :/

I mean.. to begin with, what can they accomplish with 6 cars with 2 cops each
that they can't with a third of that force?

Not to start with how much more complicated it must be to coordinate 12 cops
compared to 4.

From a foreign perspective: Americans always seem to try brute force, as
opposed to something balanced.

My theory: We get better police officers in Scandinavia since it's not a low-
paid job here, relatively speaking. It's not a way of the local power-hungry
losers to get the positions of power they crave. I know few local and young
police officers here; it's my honest assessment that none of them went into
this line of work because they craved power.

~~~
xlm1717
I don't think it's so much try brute force as it is "use it or lose it".

This thinking is pervasive throughout all levels of government in the US.
Let's say the police do decide to send three cop cars instead of six, and do
so consistently. When it comes time to request budget money, the people in
charge of handing out that money can say, "well you don't really need as much
funding since so many of your cops are sitting idle at a given time."

~~~
johansch
So people are dying (because of overblown, badly coordinated) police efforts
and the reason is the way funds are allocated in the US?

That makes me even sadder. Sounds plausible though.

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therobot24
>> I demanded all of their names and was given few. Some officers simply
ignored me when I asked, boldly turning and walking away. Afterward, I saw
them talking to neighbors, but they ignored me when I approached them again.

Protect and serve...

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kelukelugames
Happened to my one of my half-black friends when we were growing up. In
Cupertino of all places.

~~~
DrScump
Bear in mind that the police presence, and number of officers responding, had
_nothing to do with her being black_ , given that it was wholly in response to
the report about a _Hispanic_ "suspect".

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DrScump
Santa Monica police chief's perspective:

[http://santamonicapd.org/Content.aspx?id=54286](http://santamonicapd.org/Content.aspx?id=54286)

~~~
jack-r-abbit
Wow... she was _really_ rude on that audio clip. I understand she was a bit
freaked out but she was rude while the cops were being very calm with her. She
just keeps talking in circles, interrupting them, asking the same questions
over again but ignoring the responses. Oh and the clapping. I can totally
picture this scene.

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ape4
Why the guns.

~~~
DrScump
It's standard to have guns drawn when doing a sweep in response to any report
of an unauthorized presence in one's home, even _without_ a claimed eyewitness
to a break-in, as in this case.

Years ago, after I bought a new house but had not yet moved in (I was moving
individual loads as I had time), I came to the new place to find an upstairs
light on. Now, I was fairly sure I would not have done that without noticing
as I left, but I saw no sign of forced entry or active presence. So, I called
the police, explained that this was _probably_ just my screwup, but if you
have an idle unit, could they stop by when they have a chance?

Two officers responded, did a sweep of the house, guns drawn, finding nothing,
and were very nice about it all. <facepalm>

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theworstshill
Absolute trash article.

"I would be dead in the stairwell outside my apartment, because something
about me — a 5-foot-7, 125-pound black woman — frightened this man with a
gun."

Nice narrative there. Edit: Pigs will be pigs by the way, so I'm not surprised
at some of them walking away without giving their names and badge numbers.

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

~~~
johansch
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.

~~~
wan23
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
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/what-israeli-
air...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/what-israeli-airport-
secu_b_4978149.html)

~~~
wan23
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.htm...](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/07/profiling.html)
\- 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-t...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/racial-profiling-
terrorism-statistics/) \- 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.

