Left in Alabama co-blogger in chief countrycat says " surprisingly people don't know their rights when it comes to interaction with the police", and proceeds to advise white people what their rights are when they are stopped by the police. Yes, I said advise white people, because black people don't have the same rights. They just don't, but this is what happens when there is a lack of diversity (for lack of a better word) at Alabama's Informed. Involved. Progressive. blog of record.More per countrycat:
This simple sentence: "I do not consent to this search," is one of the most important tools you have to protect your constitutional rights during a police stop.
Now I'm not calling countrycat naive, but the only rights black folks have when it comes interacting with the Po Po is to stay black, and try and live through the interaction. Politely telling the Po-Po you do not consent to this search is asking to be arrested (if you're lucky), a mega beat down, or worse. And the last thing you want to do is reach for your handy know your rights card because police might think you are reaching for a gun.
This really funny video by comedian Chris Rock tells black folks what to do when stopped by the police. If you follow these easy tips you'll be fine. Warning video contains raw but real language.
#leftinbama
12 comments:
Alabama Section 15-5-30
Authority of peace officer to stop and question.
A sheriff or other officer acting as sheriff, his deputy or any constable, acting within their respective counties, any marshal, deputy marshal or policeman of any incorporated city or town within the limits of the county or any highway patrolman or state trooper may stop any person abroad in a public place whom he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed or is about to commit a felony or other public offense and may demand of him his name, address and an explanation of his actions.
We also have to remember that we also have the criminal element who will always use: "I was doing nothing wrong" but yet they were!
Other rules that help are:
1. Obey orders from police
2. do not resist arrest
3. do not run from police
4. do not fight police
5. do not point guns, knives or any weapons at police
6. do not threaten police.
"We also have to remember that we also have the criminal element who will always use: "I was doing nothing wrong" but yet they were!"
Unfortunately, law enforcement has time and again shown a tendency to write off entire ethnic groups as "criminals," thus justifying whatever happens to them afterwards.
As for your other rules, those didn't help Tamir Rice any. Hard to comply with someone who suddenly shows up and guns you down not even seconds later.
They did not help Dillon Taylor either but I do not see all the violence over his death!
That is a sad situation and MANY things could have been done differently by Police as well as Tamir. The number one thing is drop the gun when police point there gun at you. He was not 2. He was 12 and should know when police point a gun at you and yell drop it then you drop it. There are many cases the community can take up and protest but THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM NEITHER IS MIKE BROWN!!
What give you the right to tell us what cases are worthy of community support? Strike that. I know. For the record the subject of this post is what not to do if you are black when stopped by the police. This is your warning to stay on topic.
No one is questioning the authority of police to stop and question citizens, but we do have this little thingy called the fourth amendment which says law enforcement officers can't stop and search citizens without probable cause. Being black/brown is not probable cause.
Maybe if we didn't have such lax guns laws, and these open carry laws, police wouldn't be scared they weren't going to get to home to the family at the end of their shift and shoot first and ask questions later.
The video you linked you, the guy was shot because of his actions, not his race. It wasn't about race but about a trigger happy officer. The guy made 2 mistakes that would have put most officers on edge. 1) He got out of the car. 2) When asked for his license and registration, he made a sudden move to go back into the car without alerting the officer to what he was doing. Been told by officers on many occasions (driver's education, driving safety classes, driver's school) that you don't get out of the car unless the officer asks you to and you don't go into the glove compartment without alerting them first.
It doesn't excuse what happened, but I don't see that as a race issue but an issue with the officer.
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nbc-news/56114149#56114149
BTW, telling an officer "I do not consent to this search" is asking to be arrested irregardless of your race. But odds are that you have already been arrested at that point. If you have ever been issued a ticket, you have been arrested. The officer just released you under your own recognizance once you signed the ticket.
We can, and have "come up with laws that will get the guns out of hands of criminals", but republicans won't pass them because Obama. Our constitutional right to be armed and dangerous is getting a lot of innocent people killed both black and white, endangering police, making them fear they won't go home to their family at the end of their shift, and trampling the 1st and 4th amendment in the process.
Which gun laws are you talking about? The proposed ban on semi-automatic firearms modeled after military assault weapons from 2013? How would this have gotten guns out of criminals hands? Or are you talking about the "gun show loophole"? How would that get guns out of criminal hands considering government studies report that less than 2% of guns used in crimes came from guns that were bought at a gun show?
I'm talking about the gun control bill President Obama introduced after the Sandy Hook massacre. One things for sure, not passing the bill isn't getting guns out of the hands of criminals, it's getting innocent men, women, children, black, white, red, yellow, and brown, killed, and making police shoot first and ask questions later because they are afraid they are not going home to their families at night. Y'all want to blame the problem on black on black crime, but it's the easy access to guns that's the real problem.
The President's plan was:
1) Closing background check loopholes to keep guns out
of dangerous hands.
2) Banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity
magazines, and taking other common-sense steps to reduce
gun violence.
3) Making Schools Safer.
4) Increasing access to mental health services.
Shouldn't 4 been taken care of already as part of Obamacare?
How effective would 1 be considering that less than 2% of guns used in crimes are obtained at gun shows. One of the most common ways that a gun used in a crime is through a straw purchase which is already against the law.
Studies have been done on the effect of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban from 1994 that Obama and none of them have found any statistically significant evidence that show that the weapons ban had any effect on gun violence. In fact, some of the studies show that the weapon ban actually increased murder rates slightly.
I don't want to blame the problem on black on black crime, but I look at it from a logical standpoint. We have a black on black homicide rate of 6.29 per 100,000. We have a white on white homicide rate of 1.13 per 100,000. We have a 0.35 per 100,000 homicide rate of blacks killed by police officers. Which one of these will have the greatest effect?
This is not about the guns used for violent crime, this is about the guns on the street which make police officers fear they won't go home to their family at night.
This is not about black on black crime, or white on white crime for that matter. It's about the easy access all races have to guns.
One thing we know for sure, what we have now, is most certainly not effective. That is why police shoot first and ask questions later because they assume people are armed and dangerous. Heck,they can't even tell the toy guns from the real guns. Ask Tamir Rice.
Have you seen some of these "toy" guns? I have an airsoft M1911A1 that is licensed by Colt Firearms and is designed to look identical to a real M1911A1. Two things set the airsoft gun I have apart from a real gun, the orange barrel tip and the slide and body of my gun are made from transparent plastic. The non-transparent version with no plastic tip would take more than a quick look to identify as a "toy".
It doesn't help that most real guns are painted using a matte finish that plastic can easily replicate. And depending on the propellant used, the "toy" gun might not be required to carry an orange tip because it is a real weapon in and of itself. Most people forget that the simple BB gun was originally (and still is) a hunting weapon designed to hunt small game.
Are we going to ban "toy" guns as well?
Tamir Rice died because he reached for the gun rather than following the officers order to raise his hands. It is easy to arm-chair criticize the police for their actions. We are not the ones who might be shot and killed if we make the wrong decision. 43 police officers have been killed by criminals shooting them. Why not ask them.
Tamir Rice died because he was scaring the s#$t out of everybody, including the police. He was not a criminal. He was a 12 year old child playing with a toy gun. "Are we going to ban toy guns as well" you ask? Yes. Toy guns are scaring the s#%t out of everybody, including the police.
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