
How I missed an engineering interview after getting singled out by Münchner cops - vidbina
http://vid.bina.me/rant/suspicious-profile/
======
ThePhysicist
In defense of the Munich police (which is not always friendly but mostly
respectful), the current situation in Bavaria is quite unusual due to the
refugee crisis and the arrival of thousands of unregistered people every day,
which might cause some people in the police force to be a bit on the edge.

Being checked when entering Germany from the Netherlands isn't so unusual
though, as there are lots of people trafficking drugs across the border
(mostly on a small scale though). Friends of mine got checked several times as
well even though they're "European looking", but I haven't heard from cases
where people got taken to a police station for further inquiry.

As a German I'm sorry that this happened, because I actually think we got one
of the most friendly and helpful police forces in Europe.

Concerning your dismissal at the police station: As far as I know you would
have had the right to be driven back to your original location in Munich
afterwards. My advice: Complain. In Germany, this is the best way to get what
you want :D

~~~
mohawk
Perhaps you think that police are friendly and helpful because of your
experiences. So here is a guess: you are white, you have a standard hairstyle,
you wear standard clothes.

Perhaps we could experimentally test your hypothesis of friendly police
behaviour. Start wearing dreadlocks, put on baggy pants and some other more
'hip-hop' looking clothes. Put some colour on your face and make it look
darker.

Do this for a year, and _then_ tell us what you think.

~~~
zeveb
> So here is a guess: you are white, you have a standard hairstyle, you wear
> standard clothes.

One can't help one's colour, but one can help one's hairstyle and clothes. How
one presents oneself is one aspect of one's communication with others, to
include the police. If one broadcasts the message, 'I am likely to be a petty
criminal' to the police, one should expect to be harassed.

~~~
Bouncingsoul1
(1) All persons shall be equal before the law. (2) Except the person looks
like a petty criminal

~~~
Consultant32452
If I walk up to a police officer and tell them I'm a threat to them I expect
to get extra attention I probably won't like. Pretending like body language
and other forms of communication don't send the same message is disingenuous.

~~~
vkou
So, having darker skin makes someone a threat?

~~~
Consultant32452
Darker skin does not equal threatening body language.

------
flippyhead
Regardless of weather or not the search was warranted in this case it often
seems like much of the hardship and resentment could be mitigated by the
tiniest amount of curtesy on the part of the police. I don't understand why
cops are often (not always) such total dicks about this stuff. Does treating
people like shit really further their aims? Is the thinking that some how
they'll "smoke out the guilty" when their anger get's the better of them or
something?

~~~
slowmotiony
Bavarian cops are known to be absolute pieces of shit. When I was younger I
used to travel to Munich from Poland via bus (because it was the cheapest
way), and we got stopped and frisked EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Imagine this for a
second - I am a EU citizen of a country that signed the Schengen agreement,
and yet I get my passport confiscated and my belongings searched every time I
am in Germany. Not even a single "sorry" by the officers either.

~~~
tormeh
Bavarian bureaucrats too. What's up with Bavaria?

~~~
cygx
_Bayern gehört zu Österreich... duda, duda._

~~~
wolfgke
Having a Austrian father and a sister who lives in Austria, I say: the
Austrian cops are said to be more civil than their Bavarian counterpart (and
I'd prefer to live in Austria than in Bavaria).

------
CurtMonash
It probably would have been worth trying to ask a question: "I have interviews
for two consulting projects at X hours and Y hours. Is it likely that I will
be able to make them in time?"

Possible benefits include:

\-- Getting a straight answer.

\-- Breaking the mental model whereby the police are dehumanizing you and/or
lumping you into a certain profile.

\-- Getting a response so nasty it's easier to get them into trouble later on.
:)

~~~
pascalmemories
It appears you've never had a real encounter with Police.

I've actually worked with the Police. _ALL_ training is about asserting power
when dealing with suspects (a suspect is anyone you stop or talk to - no
matter what the circumstances; think about how many people reporting a crime
actually end up being arrested themselves due to something they say which
incriminates them, even in something tangential and unrelated to what they are
reporting).

The moment someone tries to reassert control, training is to respond with
additional aggressive responses to overwhelm resistance. Call in backup, draw
a taser/gun/baton, physically take hold of the person etc.

Try pulling things like talking about your consulting projects and asking for
a guarantee about making a meeting and you'll be lucky not to be face down on
the ground in under 5 seconds and spend the next 24 hours sitting in a cell.

In all my years, I think I probably met less than 5 colleagues who could
proportionately and reasonably interact with people, defuse tensions and
remain in control (of both the situation and themselves). All the rest relied
solely on the power assertion training and some couldn't even interact with
other police officers without trying to assert power over each other. That
always got nasty, especially when they did it to someone who, like them,
didn't know how to back down or defuse a situation.

Unless you have a crack team of lawyers monitoring your every move, your best
approach is to be compliant and non-confrontation. Remember as much detail as
you can (especially names/numbers) and make a formal complaint later on, via a
lawyer if possible, once you're out of custody (and preferably out of easy
reach - remember the police are 24x7, they can expend huge resources to hound
you out of sheer vexatiousness. You have to sleep. They don't.).

~~~
YZF
At the end of the day they are also people and they interact with other people
in their day to day lives. When they go to the bank they don't arrest the
teller. When they go to the supermarket they don't arrest the cashier. When
they go home they don't arrest their wife and kids. Maybe they've seen the
same movie you did last night. Maybe they are fans of the the same team. Maybe
their brother went to school with you.

You can connect with anyone on a personal level but you need to have people
skills. If you're confrontational and non compliant you're setting yourself up
for this power contest you can't win.

~~~
vellum
Power tripping carries over into their personal lives. Their families have a
much higher rate of domestic violence than the general population.

[http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/police-o...](http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/police-
officers-who-hit-their-wives-or-girlfriends/380329/)

~~~
YZF
"police officers in Florida have an x2-x4 higher rate of domestic violence"
isn't quite the same as saying all police officers are out there to beat up
whatever person they encounter in their day to day lives. They're still people
and they still need social skills even to be able to work with their bosses
and co-workers. For example, I've met a pretty tough police officer in a
Toastmasters club who I'm sure could under some circumstances be very
assertive but at the same time can obviously interact with people like a
normal person under other circumstances. I've also met plenty of non police
with hot tempers and violent tendencies.

Anyhow my point is the outcome isn't pre-determined and you have some ability
to influence how things go by using some people skills.

------
domrdy
Münchner cops are the best. I was hit by a police car on my way home from work
earlier this year (not my fault). Instead of calling the ambulance the guy
spent 15min on police radio, he looked scared as shit. Eventually, an elderly
lady that witnessed the whole thing called the ambulance and I was taken to
the hospital. I'm just glad I wasn't seriously injured, still I had to wear
crutches for a few weeks which was extremely annoying.

Made for a fun punchline when explaining the "bus factor"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor)
at a talk I gave at a company conference later on.

------
the_mitsuhiko
I can tell you from second hand experience that this also happens to white
people. I was with friends heading by car from the Netherlands to Germany and
our more than white driver got a ver special handling by the police because
they thought he would be driving under the effects of weed (which was
definitely not the case).

Apparently there was some sort of festival happening and they assumed we would
belong to another group of people and our driver looked sufficiently like a
druggie I guess.

But being polite and understanding of the situation you can get out of this
usually without much of a hassle.

~~~
dao-
So you have anecdotal evidence that the police once searched a white person.
Cool. ;)

I'm afraid Racial Profiling is still real.

------
SyneRyder
I witnessed something similar in mid-May this year on an ICE train between
Nürnberg and München.

As is normal, everyone's train ticket was checked (including mine), but when
they came to a group of Chinese tourists, there was a problem with one
passenger - he'd pre-purchased 3 months prior with a credit card, but the
credit card had since been stolen during their international trip. In Germany,
Deutsche Bahn require you to present the exact credit card used to purchase
your ticket as identification when asked.

The ticket inspector didn't believe the passenger, saying "If your card really
was stolen, your replacement card will be the same number" and "If your credit
card was stolen you would go to the police to report it." I spoke up at this
point in support, explaining that in other countries (at least in Australia),
you get a new credit card number so thieves can't use the old number online.
But the officer was convinced card numbers were immutable. The passenger did
have a police report, but the German officer said "This case number is for
British Police, checking this is too difficult."

The inspector asked for the passengers passport - understandably the passenger
was not about to surrender his main identification to someone else. The
inspector said he could not assist if he did not see the passport, and the
passenger then allowed him to _see_ the passport. But when he provided it, the
inspector looked at it, then said "Thank you, I now take this, you do not get
this back until the police arrive and the police will decide if they give it
back to you."

The passenger was part of a tour group, and all of the other tickets had been
valid. They asked if they would all be arrested, the inspector said no, but
when they asked if they could accompany him to the police station, the
inspector said "No, you are not allowed to, only he can go with the police."
The entire group all got out at the next stop anyway, where the passenger was
arrested by police. After an argument the police did allow the tour group to
follow, at least through Munich Station for as far as I could see.

TLDR: the passenger had a successfully pre-purchased ticket, had passport
identification that matched the payment details, bank & police statements to
support his story of a stolen credit card, but he was still arrested by Munich
police. And Munich was only a stop they were passing through during their
train journey! I adore Germany, but seeing this left a terrible impression.
That Deutsche Bahn card ID policy is crazy, and something is very wrong with
Munich's authorities. I'll stick to Berlin next time.

~~~
toothbrush
France has the same weird credit card policy, and i, too, have been bitten by
it. Luckily i got off with a _mere_ telling off by a very surly conductor,
when it became obvious i wasn't magically going to produce another credit
card. The insanity is on two levels though; using the card as ID but also the
fact that they're so damned serious about it. You've got actual, state-
provided ID that matches, a valid ticket, but they still give you lip. It's
incredible.

"Luckily", i'm caucasian and i speak French, but god help me if i had been of
north African phenotype (and for the uninitiated: we're talking about French-
speaking born-in-France natives who still get treated like shit) — that's the
favourite scapegoat in this part of the world :/.

EDIT: In fact, the whole idea of identifying myself on public transport gives
me the shivers. I much prefer the situation where you simply buy anonymous
tickets that are valid to the bearer. IMHO the rail authorities have no
business knowing who i am, especially since in most cases you're not even
crossing borders. And even when you are, they're more likely than not
Schengen, in which case there's theoretically no place for the shake-down
either. Compare the case where you're sitting in a car — checks are very rare
in my experience.

~~~
expertentipp
> using the card as ID

> You've got actual, state-provided ID that matches, a valid ticket, but they
> still give you lip. It's incredible.

So the identity check on the trains is more strict than on the planes (there
one needs only national ID or passport with the name matching the name from
the reservation). It seems to be the case in at least France and Germany. How
come?

------
crasp
I have not had the exact same experience but I traveled very often by car
through Germany (as a Dutch citizen) for holidays. My experiences are as
follows:

\- Drive in a (new) Audi A3 on lease:

Get stopped every other time. Completely strip my car and luggage. Throw
everything on the ground until everything was spread in a 3m radius around my
car. Leave me to pick everything up and tetris it back into the trunk and
instead start complaining about how the car is not registered on the same name
as my passport.

\- Drive in a used Toyota Prius:

<blank>

------
wobbleblob
I used to get stopped, singled out and searched at the borders all the time,
but the expansion of the Schengen zone put an end to that years ago. A young
man, traveling on his own from Amsterdam (especially on a Dutch passport) is a
red flag to these officious pricks.

It's disturbing that the Germans unilaterally decided to abolish the Schengen
zone. Temporarily they say.

By now I guess I've aged out of the target group, so they leave me alone. And
I don't look like the OP.

~~~
ThePhysicist
As you say, Schengen does not allow for large-scale border controls in Europe.
Random checks are allowed though if they have the purpose of stopping illegal
activity such as drug or money trafficking (e.g. from Luxembourg, the
Netherlands or Switzerland).

The stricter controls that have been in place for the last weeks, which also
only involve randomized searches on a slightly larger scale but only at
several points of the border, are also legally covered under the Schengen
accord and serve the purpose to get a better handle on the thousands of
unregistered immigrants flowing into Germany every day (this year alone, more
than 1.5 million regugees might come to Germany, many of them completely
unregistered). Concerning the scale of the current crisis I think these
measures are absolutely appropriate and not overly extreme.

~~~
wobbleblob
I don't think this had anything to do with refugees. They busted the OP
because they assumed they'd find drugs on him.

Young man - check. From Amsterdam - check. Dutch passport - check. Dark skin -
check. Dreadlocks - check

In their mind this kid was going to have dope on him no matter what.

------
jakubp
I wonder if the author has protested at any point (getting into an unmarked
vehicle, not being returned to original destination, being ordered to take the
clothes off (!?)). I also wonder if he was formally informed of the reason
behind the detainment.

And finally: if ever faced with such a situation, does a person have the right
to a) record everything that happens on the phone (including faces of the
police officers + audio), and b) if asked to stop, would it be ok to say "i
have the right to record all you do" or something similar?

~~~
t0mk
Reading the article I wondered what you can do/say to the police. Due to this
EU "Factsheet" it seems not much:

[https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_rights_of_defendants_in_...](https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_rights_of_defendants_in_criminal_proceedings_-169-ew-
en.do?idSubpage=2&member=1)

edit: ah, that's only for "England and Wales", I misread. Someone's got link
on actual EU law extract? (is there even any EU law for this?)

~~~
gambiting
There isn't. Each country will have it's own law for dealing with the police,
there's not much on the EU-wide level that you could use.

~~~
t0mk
You're right. In the portal there are the rights in criminal proceedings
described for each country:

[https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_rights_of_victims_of_cri...](https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_rights_of_victims_of_crime_in_criminal_proceedings-171-en.do)

------
maljx
I used to take these busses before because they were cheap going to and from
Sweden from Germany. The only people ever questioned by the border police were
non-white or eastern europeans.

~~~
LoSboccacc
"Is Germany a racist country? That is what a new documentary, Black on White,
is trying to find out. Its findings are shocking. But, as Damien McGuinness
reports, the filmmaker himself has been criticized by black Germans for his
methods."[1]

[1]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8347040.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8347040.stm)

~~~
IkmoIkmo
Racism is obviously very much alive, it's just no longer blatant. You can't
say the n word and people rarely do (some people mistake racism with purely
this blatant form of bigotry and ignore the rest), but racial profiling
happens every day, even in small interactions with people. I can't count the
number of times I'd get to finally know someone, consider them as a new
friend, and they'd drop the 'I didn't think you were like this (like them), I
thought you'd be like xyz (stereotype of my ethnicity)'. That's racial
profiling and it affects a lot of things. Getting checked on an international
bus or train is almost guaranteed for me, concerts or clubs? Checked,
airplanes? Everyone gets checked but extra searches, taking your shoes off etc
is reserved for us special few.

Anyway that doesn't even bother me, sure racial profiling for security checks
are degrading but it doesn't affect me much personally in my life, it's a
minor nuisance all things considered. What depresses me is, you recall that
guy on HN who tried to find an apartment in Munich?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8360390](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8360390)

> The conclusion from this little study, is that a girl with an italian name,
> gets an 90% answer rate, a guy with an arab name and is younger than 25
> gets, 1% answer rate. The master of all, is the young munich guy who is
> around 25

That's racial profiling, too. It's based on the same principles of racial
profiling, that we judge people based on their ethnicity rather than as
individuals who happened to have a certain skin color, and then treat people
differently. And obviously it's not just trying to find a home to rent, it's
jobs etc etc.

------
helipad
While living in Munich I was approached twice by police officers later in the
evening (around 10-11pm) coming out of U-Bahn stations.

On one occasion the seemingly plain-clothed officers flashed a badge and
started rifling through my jean pockets in the same motion. I actually thought
I was being mugged.

After the fact they were all smiles and conversation, but whatever the local
laws are, they're badly missing the point of who they're trying to protect.

------
WildUtah
"I’ve been raised to consider the police my friend. I understand the notion of
them being in office to protect and serve the people and I have felt
comfortable in the presence of the law as long as I can remember. Naive[sic]
as ever I went into this experience just like that… with the police as my
ally."

OP should write a nice thank you letter to the München cops for disabusing him
of this notion. It was his responsibility as an adult to have learned long ago
that the authorities are not your friends and the cops are not on your side.

Just imagine the nasty policies of total fascist police empowerment that he's
probably been voting for with ideas like that. Maybe a little education will
have straightened him out a bit.

Really, people who expect an encounter with the cops to be respectful,
convenient, not humiliating, fair, decent, honest, voluntary, or inexpensive
are a part of the problem. I'm glad OP is wiser and I hope he will now run his
life with due consideration for how things are instead of some childish
fantasy of how things should be.

It's imperative to memorize the rules of legal limits and rights you have with
cops in any country you transit often. In those you visit just once, memorize
the phrase "I demand to speak to my embassy immediately," but learn to be
patient because it takes a very long time to work. In America, learn to say "I
do not consent to a search," and "I want to speak to a lawyer," and "am I free
to go," and don't say anything else.

I don't know the rules for Germany, but OP needs to.

So go look them up, OP. It's your responsibility now that you've been
educated. Also, if there's a citizen grievance procedure, it's your immediate
responsibility to file one.

~~~
inflagranti
Thats such arrogant drivel. Ever thought that your attitude might actually be
part of the problem? If you approach any other group of people with contempt
and suspicion, they will approach you the same and trying to teach people to
'toughen up' and 'learn some lesson' about reality will not improve the
situation

Just because cops might have too much power in the states and sometimes get
armed with former military equipment doesn't mean you need to generally expect
cops to act in bad faith the way you describe. It's not some "childish
fantasy" that it's not like that in other countries, it's reality in may that
police are generally courteous.

There was a similar discussion on here recently about it being a 'rookie
mistake' to approach work situations in good faith and that you should have
everything on contractual basis and getting a lawyer. That's such a horrible
approach to live and again, from what I hear it seems to some degree be an
unfortunate reality in the states, but that does not mean that it should be
accepted like this and that it's just an inevitable part of a society.

~~~
fineman
Victim blaming. They've got a job to do and if they can't, they should get a
different job.

------
tome
"if the laptop ends up defective and I would have to setup a new laptop with
all of my build environments and rewrite all the uncommitted code on my trusty
old pal. I would end up losing days installing all of my tools"

Don't let yourself get into this situation, folks!

~~~
creshal
Every day is backup day.

------
retromario
I was "controlled" once at Sendlingertor on my way to work one morning. As I
turned a cornet, I noticed two large white cops ~20 meters away. I made the
briefest of eye contact before looking away/putting my head down and walking
with purpose to my exit escalators. They intercepted me and asked for ID. I
answered 'um, I have to get to work'. One officer laughed and said 'that
doesn't really matter'.

I handed my UK drivers license. They asked me if I had an arrest record, but
with my poor German, I thought they meant if I was registered in Munich, so I
mumbled an affirmative. One officer stepped back to radio in my details and
check my record. The other asked me if I had any drugs. I said no. He asked me
to show him the inside folds of my wallet and the contents of my pocket. He
didn't actually actively search me himself, just made me show him that I
didn't have any drugs squirreled away.

The whole thing was surreal and over in 3-4 minutes. Streams of workers
walking by during the whole event. I was shaking with adrenaline and itching
to protest against this unprovoked intrusion into my life. But I stayed calm
and they moved on. It was a weird experience. I'm only glad that they didn't
actively search me, it would have made the whole thing even more demeaning.

I assume I was singled out for three reasons: \- My baggy pants, loose tshirt
combination \- My slightly not white enough skin color. \- The ridiculous and
increased police presence that always seems to surround Munich a few times a
year (usually around the time of the Munich Security Conference but not
always:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Security_Conference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Security_Conference)).

FWIW, I've never had problems with other Munich civil servants. They are
usually just doing their work, and if you're polite/pleasant, it's usually
reciprocated. The police on the other hand seem to have a bug up their ass
(except during Oktoberfest, where they also seem more relaxed). I have a dark
skinned friend in Munich who gets controlled every few months. Once while
eating his lunch in tiny park in the heart of Munich on a sunny day surrounded
by other citizens!

This Wu Tang encounter with Munich police sums it all up:
[http://worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhAonAI6tetw...](http://worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhAonAI6tetwu4P6i8)

------
nefitty
"I still understand that the police does its job, but during the experience I
felt an intense hatred for the office. After a multitude of such experiences
it isn’t far-fetched to imagine that the parties subjected to such treatment
develop an enduring hatred for the office and everything associated to it. I
guess the idea of being powerless is one of the many very frustrating things
about this ordeal. Can I blame people for disliking the police if many of
their experiences are as negative as the one I’ve had and probably often even
worse?"

This realization doesn't seem to ever strike some people their entire lives.
When harassment by authority is a common occurrence and a source of anxiety
it's difficult to keep up appearances.

------
mschuster91
I know a couple of cops, and as a cop you indeed do profiling on "random"
checks.

You simply pick someone where common experience shows that a "hit" is likely.
Like, in Munich if you search a black dude with his friends, chances are high
that he's got pot on him. In other cities, being young, white and speak with
"gangsta speak" and hanging out with your friends can be an invitation for the
police to check if you got knives on you. Or if you generally behave nervous,
check if the person has an arrest warrant open instead of just looking at the
ID card.

There are no official quotas to fill like in the US, but it is definitely
better if you profile and have a "good looking" checked person/hit ratio.

~~~
mcguire
" _Like, in Munich if you search a black dude with his friends, chances are
high that he 's got pot on him._"

Chances are high that a black dude has pot on him, or chances are high that a
dude with pot on him is black? Those are actually two different things.[1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_positive_paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_positive_paradox)

------
slowmotiony
Do you have the names and badge numbers of the officers?

------
hellbanner
Maybe the world does need wearable networked glasses. Press an "Alert" button
to signal to your network that you want the m to watch.. feeds spread virally,
the whole world watches..

------
quonn
I suspect that he may actually have been singled out for his hair style
(dreadlocks, if this photo is correct [0]), not his skin color. Now, this
would _also_ be stupid and inappropriate, but it fits with the cliché, maybe
due to Bob Marley or whatever.

[0] [http://en.solarswing.nl/wp-
content/uploads/2014/07/portret_d...](http://en.solarswing.nl/wp-
content/uploads/2014/07/portret_david-180x180.png)

------
prodmerc
> This is what it feels like to get in touch with the police? Unidirectional
> respect?

Yes. No matter how good a police force's reputation, once you're in their
hands, you better make sure you make them feel respected if you want to get
out of their grasp quickly. Otherwise, trouble.

That said, German police in general are pretty laid back and respectful in my
experience :-)

------
lordnacho
This kind of behaviour needs to be filmed. It must be getting pretty cheap to
do a button camera?

I imagine the recent US cases of police impropriety will stir some changes. At
least it held some attention for a while.

On another note, when I'm treated badly by the system, I tend to feel a bit
sorry for the person on the other end eventually. It's dehumanizing to not be
able to behave in the way you find reasonable, and I doubt most cops think
it's useful to randomly stop people for no reason. Same goes with the
bureaucrat who won't approve your passport because you're smiling in the
photo. These people would most likely not like to do as they do, but they are
as powerless as their victims. When you meet them, you tell yourself not to
get angry; they are trained to do as they are told, not to think. And that
sucks for everyone.

------
nothis
Gave me shivers to read this, especially how helpless one must feel in this
situation.

------
rplnt
This is abnormally stupid. There is absolutely no reason to do these searches.
It helps no one. And it sucks really hard that you can't do anything about it.
It's infuriating.

------
guard-of-terra
Police is influental enough to eventually get immunity from law, granted by
lawmakers. After that they don't bother themself with any sort of politeness.
If something goes wrong, they can always use force, blame the victim and get
out of it.

This is a standing problem, not one of us is immune, we should be fixing it in
the future.

------
joshuaheard
I had a similar experience when I made the mistake of telling the officer I
was coming from Amsterdam, the drug capital of Europe.

------
talmand
That sucks, but I think I would like to hear the other side of the story
before I render judgement.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
"We saw a person of colour on the bus and it smelled vaguely like weed so we
forced them to get off and strip for us to prove they weren't a drug dealer"?

~~~
talmand
Is that the official statement?

------
raverbashing
I can understand the hatred, and professionalism apart (which must absolutely
be expected), how would the police be expected to act when dealing with a
potential trafficker with a fake passport?

Just to be more clear, potential as probability higher than a certain value
(not being 100% right)

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vonklaus
Everyone is a potential trafficker, murder or criminal. That is what makes
being a cop so difficult. _However,_ the magnitude of the potential is usually
determined by things like _information_ and _evidence_.

> how would the police be expected to act when dealing with a potential
> trafficker with a fake passport?

I mean, maybe he had an amazing fake passport and body cavities full of drugs
but it is a bit difficult to roll the dice on those assumptions if 1) the
passport is real 2) he didn't.

They didn't have evidence. I've dabbled in my fare share of narcotics as well,
and if you could "smell" it. It was only possible to mean some sort of
cannibus. What human could smell an oz of Coke inside another human? Seems
like a pretty broad over reach here, either straight up incompetence or
racism.

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raverbashing
Yes, the smell was specified in the article, you can't smell anything else

