Wow, that Stop-and-Frisk Policy Sure Looks Suspicious. Let’s Stop and Frisk It.
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6 responses to “Wow, that Stop-and-Frisk Policy Sure Looks Suspicious. Let’s Stop and Frisk It.”
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My civil libertarian leanings have always been offended by stopping individuals without any probable cause (except perhaps for sobriety checkpoints), but I would also note this happened less than once every other day in Charlottesville – 176 times in 365 days – so it doesn’t sound like cops are making this a major part of their daily rounds.
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Before getting to race, consider the danger of a policy that is named stop-and-frisk. Libertarians should break out in hives at any law enforcement net cast this widely. If it helps to put this practice into perspective, consider the difference between a sobriety checkpoint at which ALL cars are stopped to protect the roadways vice random pullovers that may lead to an occasional DUI but will certainly net violators of parole, firearms, stolen property (crimes, yes, but not immediate hazards to roadways, the stated goal of such checkpoints). And my personal favorite, the invasive on-water safety invasion er I mean inspection. If you’ve ever been on a boat that’s been boarded by Coast Guard or other, it’s hard not to feel libertarian bile rise in your throat. I’m rooting hard for the guy in this case whose represented himself through 3 court triumphs and only now is aided by the ACLU.
Now, tack race onto the discussion and I am easily persuaded that it must be very hard to drive while black, take an evening walk while wearing a hoodie, and so forth.
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The reason more African Americans get stopped and frisked is that the police use stop and frisk as a crime deterrent in high crime areas. In many cities the high crime areas are also places where a large percentage of the residents are minorities. The reason the arrest rate for white is higher than blacks in stop and frisks is that white people (in lower crime areas) actually have to be doing something suspicious to get stopped and frisked. I’ll furthermore wager than many of the arrests during stop and frisk incidents are for relatively small amounts of marijuana.
Now, before the screams of racism start in earnest ask your self what you would want if you lived in Detroit, St Louis or Baltimore. Those cities have become murder hotspots. However, if you look at a map of where the murders occur they are concentrated in certain high crime areas. If you’re an honest African American (the vast, vast majority) living in a high crime area … what do you want? Stop and frisk will turn up a certain number of guns, knives, etc. The threat of stop and frisk will discourage some people from carrying guns. Is the apparent racism of stopping and frisking primarily African Americans in high crime areas worth the preventative value of the practice?
I get stopped and frisked several times a week when I enter an airport. In fairness, so does everybody else. If some airport discontinued passenger screening I would never fly out of that airport again. I get stopped every year by the US Coast Guard. They usually don’t board my boat but they do run me through a safety check where I need to have life preservers, an air horn, a throwable flotation device, a fire extinguisher, etc. They write me up a compliance form and give it to me. The first thing they ask when they see me again is whether I have been stopped and searched recently. I show them the compliance form and the go on their way if I’ve been stopped this season. Maybe that’s what the police need to do. If they stop and frisk somebody the person gets a “stopped and frisked card” with a date on it. If they get stopped again they can show the police the card and the police can go on their way.
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In those “high crime” areas – you have to trade off how that policy is received by the law abiding. If that policy leads to animosity between the law abiding folks in a community and the police – it’s a problem.
When you do something like this – you have to be willing to see not only your own justification for doing it – but if there is a downside also – and to be honest enough to admit that your “good idea” is maybe not so good if most of the community – criminals and law abiding are opposed to it.
Seems like all we need to do to blow something up these days is use the race word, eh?
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I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad idea. I just don’t think it’s a racist idea. If stop and frisk dilutes the faith of the community in the police they will cooperate less and fewer crimes will be solved. There’s definitely a downside.
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And I still stick with my view that a “good idea” has to stand on it’s own merits with respect to the larger community. If the larger community of law-abiding citizens thinks it’s a bad idea and you go forward anyhow – there is a serious question as to what exactly you are trying to achieve in the end if the community itself is opposed and will not cooperate …
Why did we not consult with these communities BEFORE we instituted such policies and why did we not alter course when it became apparent that such policies did not have the support of those communities?
Stop and frisk is basically a military approach to law and order.
People in the community end up fearing the police almost as much as the criminals because more than “criminals” get drawn up in the dragnet – and gobbled up by the criminal justice system. i.e. some kid with pot …bad judgement – now drawn into the prison pipeline.
We talk about this in fairly sterile terms but real people .. ordinary people and their families feel like their community has been “occupied” and that the whole community is “guilty” and needs heavy policing.
If the entire community is perceived to be a crime zone… then that pretty much includes everyone in it… and stop and frisk is one size fits all.
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