Monday, April 05, 2004
A NEW TAKE ON PROFILING...BY COPS
My wife got stopped and ticketed...I didn't. Of course, I didn't do anything wrong, but there are hundreds of times where I swear that if an officer were around to ticket me for some violation while driving...I would deserve one. It happened about a month ago when I was to meet my wife at the doctor's office for a check-up on her pregnancy. Since I was going to go directly to work after the visit, we drove separate cars. Well, she got stopped by a cop when she turned at an intersection on a red light. I made the light, she didn't. Anyway, she goes to traffic court this week to plead her case. Am I wrong in prodding her to "play up" the pregnancy angle and make sure to have our other child on her arm when she goes before the judge?
Well, after reading the story in the Tennessean today, I guess I am.
The basis of the article is to point out something that goes completely against previous beliefs. Those beliefs were highlighted by a poll the newspaper did on "Who readers thought would most likely get a warning when stopped by police for a traffic violation"...and the results were pretty typical of our "general understanding" that has been pounded into us by the race baiters and cop haters:
Who do you think is more likely to get off without a traffic ticket?
Women, 86.8%; men, 13.2%
Whites, 73.2%; minorities, 26.8%
Old, 88%; young, 12%
Source: Online Tennessean Survey Conducted Thursday And Friday, Based On More Than 300 Responses
So in other words, if you're an old white woman, you probably wouldn't get a ticket...but if you're a young black male...you're pretty much guaranteed to get a ticket...at least in Tennessee and probably in the US as a whole.
WRONG!
Unbelievably...the research of actual tickets shows nearly the opposite. Women are more likely to be ticketed than receive a warning...93-percent of the time! Black males were only ticketed 88-percent of the time when stopped! Of 126,000 traffic stops by police, 91-percent of drivers of all races and ages were given a ticket...only 9-percent got a warning. Women in almost every age and racial category were more likely to get tickets than their male counterparts. But Hispanic women ages 16-25 and 36-45 were less likely than Hispanic men to be ticketed. As a group, white women were more likely to get a ticket than anybody else.
Of course, this didn't do a whole lot to change the perception of anyone...as this black woman quoted in the story points out:
Kim Newson, 38, an African-American...said she had ''never, never, never'' been given a warning either, ''just tickets.'' According to police figures, Newson is less likely than a white woman her age to get a ticket if stopped — but she said she doesn't believe it.
Well, my question is this: Why is the onus of proving the racial-profiling claims on POLICE when it appears to be our own personal perceptions that mean so much more than the data would ever indicate otherwise...
Perhaps we need racial sensitivity training.
BTW: Good luck, honey...despite the evidence, do as I said...play up the 3-months pregnant with a 1-year old and try and get the judge to lower the fine.
My wife got stopped and ticketed...I didn't. Of course, I didn't do anything wrong, but there are hundreds of times where I swear that if an officer were around to ticket me for some violation while driving...I would deserve one. It happened about a month ago when I was to meet my wife at the doctor's office for a check-up on her pregnancy. Since I was going to go directly to work after the visit, we drove separate cars. Well, she got stopped by a cop when she turned at an intersection on a red light. I made the light, she didn't. Anyway, she goes to traffic court this week to plead her case. Am I wrong in prodding her to "play up" the pregnancy angle and make sure to have our other child on her arm when she goes before the judge?
Well, after reading the story in the Tennessean today, I guess I am.
The basis of the article is to point out something that goes completely against previous beliefs. Those beliefs were highlighted by a poll the newspaper did on "Who readers thought would most likely get a warning when stopped by police for a traffic violation"...and the results were pretty typical of our "general understanding" that has been pounded into us by the race baiters and cop haters:
Who do you think is more likely to get off without a traffic ticket?
Women, 86.8%; men, 13.2%
Whites, 73.2%; minorities, 26.8%
Old, 88%; young, 12%
Source: Online Tennessean Survey Conducted Thursday And Friday, Based On More Than 300 Responses
So in other words, if you're an old white woman, you probably wouldn't get a ticket...but if you're a young black male...you're pretty much guaranteed to get a ticket...at least in Tennessee and probably in the US as a whole.
WRONG!
Unbelievably...the research of actual tickets shows nearly the opposite. Women are more likely to be ticketed than receive a warning...93-percent of the time! Black males were only ticketed 88-percent of the time when stopped! Of 126,000 traffic stops by police, 91-percent of drivers of all races and ages were given a ticket...only 9-percent got a warning. Women in almost every age and racial category were more likely to get tickets than their male counterparts. But Hispanic women ages 16-25 and 36-45 were less likely than Hispanic men to be ticketed. As a group, white women were more likely to get a ticket than anybody else.
Of course, this didn't do a whole lot to change the perception of anyone...as this black woman quoted in the story points out:
Kim Newson, 38, an African-American...said she had ''never, never, never'' been given a warning either, ''just tickets.'' According to police figures, Newson is less likely than a white woman her age to get a ticket if stopped — but she said she doesn't believe it.
Well, my question is this: Why is the onus of proving the racial-profiling claims on POLICE when it appears to be our own personal perceptions that mean so much more than the data would ever indicate otherwise...
Perhaps we need racial sensitivity training.
BTW: Good luck, honey...despite the evidence, do as I said...play up the 3-months pregnant with a 1-year old and try and get the judge to lower the fine.
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