I will start. I am white, live in a diverse city but very white neighborhood...I moved to this diverse city almost 5 years ago.

The week before George Floyd's murder...I was out walking in my very white, neighborhood...found a neighbor's truck with its windows smashed..I was not sure what home the truck belonged to (it was parked on the street), it was very early morning during a pandemic..so I was not sure about knocking on doors. So I called the police...I will never do that again..

Long story short, the victim of vandalism became problem...."There is nothing I can do" says the cop..He knocked on the neighbor's door who he knows.. (I have never layed eyes on the neighbor, just sayin.) Cop comes back to me to say...the neighbor has been the victim of harassment because his is a person of color...So neighbor is warned he will be fined for a parking violation.

The last time I interacted with police officers was when the VP of engineering at my company called the cops on me. Or I should say, he called the cops on my behalf. I was a little inebriated and he stole my keys to keep me from driving. I had no intention of driving at that time, but he took it upon himself to make sure. I felt I wanted my keys anyway so I spent the better part of an hour cussing him out in his office within earshot of circa 50 other employees. As the sun went down I finally gave in to his offer to call the cops and let them sort it out. He called them and they arrived in like 2 minutes, in this medium-affluent bay area suburb. One black cop and one white cop. The black cop was clearly in charge. I asked them to give me a field sobriety test but neither knew how. I asked for a breathalyzer but they had none. I explained the situation and told them I wanted my keys and had no intention of driving. The VP and I argued for a while in front of the cops. The VP really wanted to watch me get arrested and was trying to convince them I was out of control. I sensed the junior cop was excited to arrest me, and I said as much to him, but I also sensed that the other cop was amused and slightly on my side. Eventually that cop asked my boss for my keys, and handed them back to me. He let me know that they'd be watching and would arrest me if I got in my car while under the influence. I walked back inside with the VP and asked him whether it was worth it. He asked was what worth it? I said calling the cops. He said he didn't know. Those are the last words we ever exchanged, he was off to another job within a week. I waited several hours before going home, and have never spoken a word about it to anybody at work since. I'll always appreciate that cop and I'll always remember the sense I had that the one guy was excited to arrest me and the other could be reasoned with.

My recent police experiences have been boring and invariably due to the fact that I drive like an asshole.


But in my yoot I had some fun ones. Like being taken from one ATM to another by a cop so I could get enough cash out to bribe he and his buddies out of taking my friends to jail on marajuana charges. (in that time and place - 1990s Brazil - there were lowish withdrawal limits on individual ATMs).

quote:

Originally posted by Horace:
I walked back inside with the VP and asked him whether it was worth it. He asked was what worth it? I said calling the cops. He said he didn't know.

I imagine that incident had some influence on your ultimate decision to go to rehab, so maybe it was worth it.

It was a three car accident on an interstate highway. Two cars in front of me got into a collision, one of them bounced off the guardrail and crashed into my car. Luckily there was no injury (as far as I know).

An off-duty cop was not far behind me, he stopped, called the on-duty cops, and talked to us (people involved in the accident). One of the drivers was very visibly shaken and was crying in her car. But the off-duty cop was pretty calm and professional, basically just letting us know that he has called the incident in and reassuring people that help is on the way.

Then many on-duty cops came to manage the scene and took people’s statements, including mine. Some highway patrol, some local police. So I interacted with multiple cops in that one incident. From what I could see and hear, all the cops were pretty professional and handled the whole situation appropriately.

After the first night of lawlessness in Chicago, the central city area was locked down. It was easier to get out, but there were only 4 or so manned checkpoints to get back in. Our landlord told us it took him 1 1/2 hours to come back in - what is normally a 30 minute drive!

On social media, I was reading stories of workers being turned back - even with notes or pay stubs from work - and new residents scrambling to find something with the new address to show the police.

I had tuning appointments that day out in the suburbs, so I got out my registration papers because my drivers license still has our old address. The officer looked in and asked for my address and waved me through without looking at any paper... Old white guy privilege???

I don't want to get into a lot of details. I was hit by property crime twice in one year. The police were inadequate, incompetent, and insulting. I pointed out the window the criminals broke to get in -- after the police had done a "thorough" investigation. They kept asking me if I had "installed the deadbolts with the screws facing out 'cuz that's how they got in". Jesus.


Not totally an issue with the police, per se...

I also had a very frustrating experience with 9-1-1 last year. I live on the corner of two 25 MPH residential streets. One direction has a stop sign, the other didn't. There are several collisions a year. Most don't get reported unless a car is totaled or there are injuries. In the last one, a car blew through the stop sign, collided with another car and ended up upside-down. There were two kids in the back seat. Thanks to seat belts, car seats, and air bags, there were no serious injuries. By the time I got out there, most of the occupants were out of the cars. I couldn't tell right off who came out of the cars and who was just walking by. The 9-1-1 operator spent several minutes asking how many people were in each car, how old were they, how many were injured, how badly, and on and on. I sussed out that three other people were already on the phone with 9-1-1, told the operator I couldn't answer all her questions, just send police and ambulance and let them sort it out. She then demanded my name, address, phone number, etc. I hung up. I live two minutes from a fire station. Help could have been on site in the time it took to go through their script.

Meanwhile, the police positioned a car crosswise on two of the streets. Several people drove up onto the sidewalks and my neighbor's lawn to get around them. Heaven forbid they have to drive four blocks out of their way in their Land Rover to get home.

I asked the police to send a copy of the report to the transportation department. Several of us had been asking the city to make it a 4-way stop for years. Despite there not being "enough" traffic, "enough" collisions, and "enough" people going more than ten miles over the speed limit to meet their criteria for a 4-way stop, the engineer for this area relented and we now have a 4-way stop. I told her about the kids in the upside-down car and it was even luckier nobody walking on the sidewalk got hit. I sent her pictures. I think that did it.

quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:

quote:

Originally posted by Horace:
I walked back inside with the VP and asked him whether it was worth it. He asked was what worth it? I said calling the cops. He said he didn't know.

I imagine that incident had some influence on your ultimate decision to go to rehab, so maybe it was worth it.

Well I consider that to have been the worst decision of my life and it was unequivocally worthless, so.

Rephrase that to 'your decision to stop drinking' then.

My most recent interaction was positive. I accidentally dialled 911 (that iPhone button trick which I didn’t know about at the time). He came to check it out, asked me a few questions, and was incredibly kind. White girl in a small town privilege for sure.

The time before that was a horrible interaction. Rural, unfamiliar area. When we came into town that morning, a road was closed and well-marked as such due to an accident. We took the detour. On the way home (about 12 hours later) the Road Closed sign had been moved half on the gravel and half on the road (rather than blocking it as it had earlier). Two cars ahead of me drove down the road so I followed, assuming that the issue had long since been dealt with. As we got up to the intersection, I realized that no, the road was still closed. I slowed my vehicle to a crawl. One of the other cars had turned into a driveway earlier. The other did a U-turn and left. The cop waved me to stop so I did. He berated me for about 15 minutes, waving two other cars through while he did it. He told me that someone had died in the accident and piled on all this guilt about how my actions were making him unsafe (I literally rolled up to the scene without my foot on the gas). He charged me with driving on a closed road - several hundred dollars and a few points on my license. He yelled at me some more, until I was furious enough that I started crying (I’m a crier... and I cry when I’m angry). During this time another couple of cars had swung around us and turned right at the intersection that was closed. He ignored them. When he threw the ticket in the window (literally threw it) and told me I could go, I asked him if he wanted me to turn around and take the previous back road or go to the closed intersection. He said, “You’re really stupid aren’t you? Go through the damn intersection” and marched away. I don’t know why I was the one he decided to take his bad day out on but it sucked. We found out that night that there had, indeed, been a serious accident, but that no one was hurt. The reason the intersection was still closed was because there was a gas spill that they had to clean up. So he was both an a$$hole and a liar.

However, I’m pretty sure for as cruddy as the interaction was, it would have been a lot worse had I been Black or Indigenous. That little power trip just showed me how much license cops have to do whatever they want to people.

quote:

Originally posted by dolmansaxlil:
My most recent interaction was positive. I accidentally dialled 911 (that iPhone button trick which I didn’t know about at the time). He came to check it out, asked me a few questions, and was incredibly kind. White girl in a small town privilege for sure.

This blithe assuredness that cops treat minorities badly in every case, which we can now count on every virtuous white person to dutifully intone, is not obviously a good thing for everybody to believe. Actually i think there is a very good chance that teaching generations of minorities that cops hate them, especially to a degree that is not supported by the real statistics, is poisonous to their psyches and to society as a whole.

I had dealings with the Anaheim PD just yesterday.



A 15 year old kid took his Mom's SUV out for a joy ride and hit another car about 2 miles away. The kid panicked and took off, the other driver chased him. He lost control of the car and hit a light pole in front of my rental unit.

It's a miracle no one was hurt. Neighborhood kids play on that grass all the time, and they also play under the shade shelter.

Several cops showed up, along with the power company and a tow truck. They were friendly with the tenants, efficient and professional.

I was impressed.

quote:

He charged me with driving on a closed road - several hundred dollars and a few points on my license.

I hope you fought the ticket and filed a written complaint about the officer.

Or were you well away from home?

It has been my experience that some police will pretty much ignore locals and nail others to the wall because they're pretty sure they won't come back to fight it.

Maybe that's just my impression.


[tangent]There's a small town near here that is on one of the roads to Mount Rainier (popular destination for out-of-towners). The road it posted 50 until you get to the edge of town, then it drops to 35. Except for one small stretch, maybe a block long that's posted 25. And there's a billboard on the side of the road. Whenever I drive through there, I *always* set the cruise control to the posted speed. One time I was riding through there with a bunch of other motorcyclists. I was the only one with cruise control. At the last stop before the town, I told them to let me lead and do NOT try to pass me. I set the cruise control to 34, then down to 25 as we went past. I cheerfully waved to the cop sitting behind the billboard, and my fellow bikers picked up the clue and all waved, too.

Word is that well over half of the town's revenue comes from speeding tickets on that road.[/tangent]

quote:

Originally posted by Horace:

quote:

Originally posted by dolmansaxlil:
My most recent interaction was positive. I accidentally dialled 911 (that iPhone button trick which I didn’t know about at the time). He came to check it out, asked me a few questions, and was incredibly kind. White girl in a small town privilege for sure.

This blithe assuredness that cops treat minorities badly in every case, which we can now count on every virtuous white person to dutifully intone, is not obviously a good thing for everybody to believe. Actually i think there is a very good chance that teaching generations of minorities that cops hate them, especially to a degree that is not supported by the real statistics, is poisonous to their psyches and to society as a whole.

I don’t think they treat Black or Indigenous people badly in every case. I do think that, had Rob been Black or Indigenous, they wouldn’t have cheerfully talked to him in the doorway and assumed that everything was ok. I think it’s likely he would have gotten far more questions. And I do think that it’s reasonable for me to assume I will be safe if the police come to my house, where I don’t think that Black or Indigenous people feel the same way.

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:

quote:

He charged me with driving on a closed road - several hundred dollars and a few points on my license.

I hope you fought the ticket and filed a written complaint about the officer.

Or were you well away from home?

It has been my experience that some police will pretty much ignore locals and nail others to the wall because they're pretty sure they won't come back to fight it.

Maybe that's just my impression.

I didn’t fight it. We were about three hours from home and when I looked into it I decided that the stress it would cause me wasn’t worth the fight. I literally didn’t tell a soul about it for over a year because I was so upset and ashamed about the whole thing. I just paid it and pushed it out of my mind, which is exactly what he was hoping for, I am sure.