<p>Re: “Profiling”: It is common practice in my town, to the point of being a joke, for pretty young girls to be pulled over at night, for no reason.</p>
<p>I agree with momma three on this one.</p>
<p>Wow, I completely disagree with the ‘police are there to protect us and would not pull someone over for no reason’ thinking. I certainly wouldn’t want them harassing my kids to scare them. My few dealings with police have left me feeling that some officers have a power trip thing going, and don’t like to be questioned for an explanation. I don’t think they should be asking everyone in the car for an ID, though I would advise my kids to give them one if asked. My 18 year old S doesn’t have a license, and I don’t think he always carries an ID on him. Searching the car is a big no-no - even though I have nothing to hide, they do not have the right to randomly ask.</p>
<p>While I do think there are a lot of power tripping police out there, and ones that are twisted by other motivations, they put their life on the line for me every day so that I don’t have to and I respect that. I’m sure it’s not easy to be in one of those careers where everybody hates you until they need you. If they want my ID they can have it, it’s not going to hurt me any and I don’t want to waste anyone’s time making a scene.</p>
<p>Not saying that I would judge anyone who would refuse, I understand why you would, I just personally don’t care enough about my ID to object. Not sure what I would do if they randomly wanted to search my car, I guess I’ll ask my lawyer what she thinks. That happened to my cousin once, he was probably my age at the time. No reason at all to search the car that my cousin was aware of. It seems to me if you refuse they just get a warrant because refusing is suspicious in and of itself.</p>
<p>I think actually that “refused search” would never be a valid reason for a warrant, and a police officer would not be able to get one on that basis.</p>
<p>I do not hate the police. I have the utmost respect for the job and its holders. I believe in a world regulated by law, supported by the enforcers of law. I think it’s important for the health of the country that all parts, including the enforcers, follow the rule of law, and the Constitution upon which the law is founded.</p>
<p>I would not consent to a random search, if for no other reason than the habit of random searches undermines the Constitutional basis of the nation.</p>
<p>Police: abusing authority and harassing private citizens since 1667.</p>
<p>I would also refuse a random search as it can only hurt the person searched or his/her friends and/or loved ones. Most attorneys would advise their clients to refuse a random search and require a signed search warrant, limiting the search to the premises designated in the warrant.</p>
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<p>I don’t think so either, but I don’t doubt that an officer could get the warrant if he wanted it. That was what eventually happened with my cousin. He was told he was being pulled over for a burned out tail light, they wanted to search the car and he refused, they told him he would be up to his neck in ***** if he didn’t cooperate, and he ended up having to wait on the side of the road for a canine unit to show up. I would imagine they either made something up entirely or said that he was being difficult and uncooperative which gave them reason to believe he had something to hide.</p>
<p>The cops in my general region aren’t known for being particularly honorable, but at least in my experience I would never trust that they aren’t going to find a way to do whatever they want to do.</p>
<p>And that’s what is scary, in that kind of case–we can’t have a country where they can “do whatever they want to do.” That’s why we have laws.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Rochester Police Arrest Woman in Her Front Lawn For Filming Traffic Stop](<a href=“Rochester Police Arrest Woman in Her Front Lawn For Filming Traffic Stop - YouTube”>Rochester Police Arrest Woman in Her Front Lawn For Filming Traffic Stop - YouTube)</p>
<p>This was clearly an illegal arrest, and yet it happened. It’s important if we care about what this country stands for to remember that police do not have the right to give any order they want and arrest anyone who doesn’t follow it. That’s called a police state,and we don’t, and shouldn’t, live in one.</p>
<p>Yup normal</p>
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<p>That definitely bares repeating. I’m often frustrated by people who beat their chests in anguish over certain perceived Constitutional abuses, but have no problem with governmental abuse of the Fourth Amendment. It is fool-hardy in the extreme to assume that, because you are a law abiding citizen and have “nothing to hide”, that law enforcement can’t use disregard of The Fourth Amendment to subject you to abuse or oppression.</p>
<p>Yes, they can, especially if your state has a curfew.</p>
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<p>I don’t understand how the citizens of a free country can tolerate curfews.</p>
<p>^ I don’t understand that either. Are curfews for teens or adults as well?</p>
<p>I guess I don’t understand all this distrust of the police. I have also discussed with my kids the benefit of being courteous and cooperating. I don’t see what harm there is in showing ID. For those who say their kids don’t always carry ID, they should. I have friends whose daughter was hit by a drunk driver. She was not carrying ID and it took hours to identify her and notify the parents. It happened only after they called police because it was so long after her curfew. </p>
<p>My son was stopped once right after getting his license because he “looked too young to drive”. The police were correct. He was barely 5 ft tall and looked around 13. He politely gave them his license and they very politely let him on his way. My BIL said we should be angry that he was randomly stopped. Personally, I’m glad the police in our city would stop someone who they think isn’t old enough to drive.</p>
<p>^Totally agree…If a police officer is doing their job they should be pulling people over to do whatever randon checks they deem necessary. When we have nothing to fear than no police stop should bother us. My town stops kids all the time, especially late at night. They are doing what they should be doing given that we have so many highschool and college age kids who are partying on the weekends. Most kids in my town would never risk driving through our town after even one drink for this reason. When kids go out here, they get hotel rooms, so no one is driving. </p>
<p>Our local paper prints all violations and arrests for all the local towns. I don’t think I have seen a DUI printed in our paper in about four years. They are printed for every town around us.</p>
<p>The woman in the video I showed above was arrested while performing legal actions on her on front yard. The people in the street she was being filmed were roughly searched and handcuffed, then let go. </p>
<p>My D’s bf was thrown across his car because he did not consent to a search. The “reasonable suspicion” tendered was that they were white people in a black neighborhood. AFter the baseless search, and abuse, he was given a ticket for “failure to yield” though he’d come from the street that had the right of way.</p>
<p>There is distrust of the police, some of the time, because some police, not by any means all, abuse their authority. The reason to not go along with un-warranted searches or ID demands is to keep the *laws *of the country intact–I have the utmost respect for the law, and disrespect of it leads to erosion of it. The police are not the law; they, of all people, need to respect it’s boundaries in order to preserve it.</p>
<p>Human nature being what it is, there will always be abuse of power. But to go into the situation assuming that it is being abused, just leads to conflict. I’d rather the kids err on the side of cooperation than assume they are being abused. I’m also going to assume that in most cases, the police have a reason for it given the nature of their jobs and the people they are dealing with. Personally, I’m glad I live in a city that will pull over an underaged driver</p>
<p>It is not okay for the police to stop young adults at random. It is profiling.</p>
<p>On one stop the police told my daughter that they stopped her because someone threw a bottle out the window. No one had.</p>
<p>On another stop they told her she was swerving all over the road. She knew they had been tailing her since she and her friends left the convienience store. She was not swerving.</p>
<p>My son was stoppped out of state. The officer stated he was speeding. He was not. The officer stated he had to give him a ticket since he pulled him over. He gave him a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. Everyone in the car was wearing a seatbelt.</p>
<p>This type of behavior from the police instills a very distrustful mindset in young people. </p>
<p>I believe many police are honest. I believe many police are not honest.</p>
<p>My kids know to shut up and be polite regardless. We have managed to get through 10 yrs between them at the wheel without any citations or infractions.</p>
<p>They have been told to never consent to a vehicle search which also gives the police the right to search the occupants of the car.</p>
<p>In my area, at certain times of the year, certain times of the wee early hours, particularly certain times of the week, it is SOP for police to set up check points. They do stop every car, but when DH and I are driving the cop never even sticks his head in the window or ask for anything. When any of my kids are driving, they want it all–license, reg and ins. Young male drivers have to have that stuff available more than we do because, yes, the police can ask for it in such situations, and if you refuse, they do have the right to book you. My son did not have his wallet with him once, and the car he was driving had an empty glove compartment. DH went to the police department and they released him barely focusing on his license. The minute they saw a big, middle aged white man who was clearly a professional walk in their, the attitude changed . </p>
<p>On a college trip once, I had a head ache and was lying in the back seat when we were stopped. The demeanor of the officer changed instantly when I popped up and identified myself as the driver’s mother with a headache. He said that that the strip of highway was having drug trafficing issues, and that was the reason for the pull over. No speeding, noting. No citations, and apologies. Didn’t even show my license. </p>
<p>As for asking for a driver’s license of a passenger, if the person doesn’t have it with him/her, that is not a requirement. However, one of mine was pulled in once for not having any ID on him and for running down a street smack in to a police officer. He refused to give his address and phone number because he wasn’t doing anything and didn’t want us contacted. His brother, over age 21 was not permitted to vouch for him, but they used his info to contact our local police who called us. DH went and got DS. I think DS was rude to the officer but was within his rights. The officer said he suspected DS had been drinking but refused to give any tests on it when DS challenged him and offered to provide any samples to prove it. </p>
<p>Young men, particularly of color, are at risk when dealing with the police. We have learned too that the police are not always honest and have some bad eggs and officers with chips on their shoulders too.</p>