Keep in mind that a few weeks back someone broke into TD and that incident rattled the Yale Community. The police were responding to a call. It wasn’t communicated to them “hey it’s the same crazy white woman who has called before”. From what I’ve seen they acted professionally and tried to gain info quickly and solve the problem. If they had just blown off the call they would now be under scrutiny for failing to investigate. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
In my estimation criticism being thrown their way is not justified. What is justified is taking the student who has made false claims to task and having the graduate program investigate if harassment is found. The student harmed/ harassed could also file a restraining order if she feels threatened by this woman who makes continued false claims.
How many times have we heard here on CC about a student going to lay down or sleep in the common room because they have been sexiled from their room? Are they going to get the cops called on them too? SMH
@TatinG Definitley. What an attention seeker! Of course there was no hint of racism at all in this situation. She must have just been imagining things!
Seriously you think it was appropriate for that many cops and HELICOPTERS to show up for an alleged burglary call?
As I said earlier, it is not unusual in the LA area for helicopters to show up. We have had helicopters overhead for domestic disputes, burglaries, carjacking suspects making a run for it, all sorts of things. It might be unusual in other areas but LA County, not at all.
^That seems very excessive for this situation. I wonder what the protocol is. Call in the helicopters, ask questions later?
And you haven’t answered whether it was appropriate for that many cops and cop cars to rush to this situation.
As I said previously, I have experienced helicopters overhead in my area for burglaries. It is not unusual, since the police were told a possible burglary was in progress.
I also fail to see what difference it made to the AirBnb renters if helicopters were overhead or not. They didn’t interact with the helicopters.
But @tonymom once she unlocked her apartment and produced her ID, they should have been satisfied. Again, did they really think she had stolen a key (to a grad student apartment no less), spread out papers, got a fake ID, all to sleep in the Grad Student Housing lounge? Yes, the cops had to investigate but they certainly could have more quickly determined she was a legit student.
As for the AirBnB, once the unregistered host was contacted and the women showed their booking info, the cops continued to question the women. That should have been enough. 7 cop cars and a helicopter seems a bit excessive for three women with luggage. And the cops presumed they were guilty, telling them to put their hands in the air rather than thinking perhaps it was a mistake. They were detained for 45 minutes. I think any of us would be upset at being detained for that long on a potential felony when we were legitimately in the area. Totally disagree that this is attention seeking @TatinG .
@HMom16 I do think more people need to be held accountable. I think that before calling the police, people need to ask themselves three questions:
- Am I in imminent danger?
- Is someone else in imminent danger?
- Would I feel the way I feel now if the person in question looked like me?
If the answer to all of those questions is no, then you’re wasting city resources and need to be held accountable. I’m so over people calling the cops on POC simply for existing in a way and in a space that makes a white person uncomfortable. That’s not a crime.
@mom2and
Her name was different in the Yale system than how it appeared on her student ID. Legitimate snafu and unfortunate in that it slowed the process down. Again they appeared to have been very polite and were just trying to discern what was the issue. If there is any blame it squarely falls with the woman who called. I as a parent am glad the Yale police follow up with calls. It’s not their fault the woman who complained is a nut who needs to leave her program.
Why just in case of danger? Why not any possible crime, like possibly stealing your neighbor’s stuff?
@CaliCash This is a great question - many of these issues would be moot if people just asked themselves:
“Would I feel the way I feel now if the person in question looked like me?”
I should also mention that when I called the cops, my neighbor had just told me the day before they would be away for 2 weeks. Had she not said anything at all and 3 women brought put suitcases, I likely would have thought nothing of it, assuming they were her guests.
I would add to Cali’s list, is someone else in danger or is a serious crime being committed, ie, not using charcoal bbq in the wrong part of a park…
Heretofore, unbeknownst to me, Lake Jr. occasionally slept in the student lounge on a couch during “cram” sessions. Found out about it during a telephone conversation with one of his suite-mates. As a parent I think I would be very upset that some dim-bulb called the cops. Lake Jr. is on a small campus where there are few stragglers, strangers or intruders. Even in my day students pulled all-nighters in the lounge or the vending machine vestibule. Sounds like the woman whom was annoyed by the Yale student has deeper problems.
I don’t think the police had any business holding on to that ID. She took a while to decide whether to hand the ID over, and what happened when she did validated her hesitation – she was essentially detained for 15 or 20 minutes for doing nothing but minding her own business. Police do NOT have the right to require people to produce ID’s just to check up on them. Napping in the common room of the building she lived in simply is not the sort of suspected criminal activity that creates a need to check up on anything.
I’m obviously not talking about incidents when a crime is obviously taking place.
@CaliCash I think some folks need a refresher on what is a crime though…
This is why we are upset! Some think we don’t have rights and are not entitled to due process, included in that group are cops and hysterical white women. I’m being specific because it seems in an overwhelming number of cases it’s white women calling the cops, not white men.
It’s not just these recent cases, you go back to the murder of John Crawford by an Ohio cop. So why are they so “afraid”. I don’t think they are at all. As I’ve said they use cops as their personal racism valet. Sometimes the cops exercise common sense, many times they don’t.
^Sadly, you are not wrong…
@sorghum I would be hesitant to call the police about a possible burglary because my limited knowledge of this happening involved a high speed chase, a multiple car collision, and severe injuries to innocent people. It was my brother’s house. His neighbor noticed an unfamiliar car, called my brother to confirm no one was visiting, then called the police. It really was a burglary, but was my brother’s petty cash worth the damage of the police response? Did this really make my hometown a safer place? Race was not an issue in this case because everyone was white. But I do think twice before calling the police, because the response can be out of proportion to the actual crime and minorities are even more likely to be affected by over policing.