Oddly, I’m white and I’ve had neighbors call the cops on me. Personally, I like the idea of neighbors keeping an eye on things. I’ve personally stopped multiple burglaries of my neighbor’s house by calling the police.
I’m not going down this rabbit hole with you. There have been plenty of threads on the subject. The police can and will detain someone they suspect of criminal activity. Throwing a tantrum escalates that suspicion.
I don’t see any rational person defending a tantrum. Nothing good will come of it.
With all that said, has anybody asked themselves WHY this person was out in his front lawn with a bucket and a grabbing tool? Look at the house across the street. This is not a neighborhood with buckets of trash in their front lawn. Given his foul mouthed buddy filming it and his tantrum with the police I would hazard a guess that he was picking up trash from a party the night before.
We look out for each other in my neighborhood also, but we know who lives where, so I wonder why your neighbor did not know that you were a resident. If a neighbor called the cops on me I’d be really pissed.
I live across the street from a school, so I pick up trash on my lawn all the time. But since when is picking up trash suspicious behavior?
Maybe there is a class of criminal with a cleanliness fetish, who’ll only rob clean houses. I have seen a report on News of the Weird about someone who broke into a house and then cleaned it, so I suppose it is possible.
What do you mean, the cops “have to take the call”? They’re not a fucking pizza delivery. They don’t *have *to respond to any tip provided by the public, especially one as bogus as this one.
Well, maybe, but wouldn’t you rather they clean up after a party? Or is your argument that college students shouldn’t be allowed to have parties, or perhaps that the parties should be restricted to sit-down dinners for eight or fewer?
I mean, I’m not a fan of any party that spills outside, but it’s not unreasonable to expect a few among the college set. If the police weren’t called DURING the party, that’s a plus (though we don’t know either way).
And re: suspected criminal behaviour, if you’re just existing in your own home, including your yard, even if you rent, it is unreasonable to treat you as a suspected criminal. Someone picking up trash is pretty obviously picking up trash, as you can tell at a glance from the physical presence of said trash (whether strewn about the yard or already in the bucket or what). Novelty Bobble’s suggested phrasing sounds much better to me.
I would think you would WANT people to keep up their yards. Some of my neighbours are very annoying (loud music, litter, pot & cigarette smoke) but I would never call the cops on things that basically just irritate me, but do no real lasting harm. If someone did, though, I would expect the police to de-escalate politely rather than get aggressive, even if the people themselves raised their voices and swore.
Of course I’d rather they clean up after a party. I seriously doubt the police were responding to a call of someone cleaning their property. I could b e wrong.
Not much information, but from the coverage of the story and the police blotter, it looks like it was police initiative rather than responding to a specific complaint.
this is just me but if I’m holding anything and an officer tells me to put it down then down it goes. Been there. Done that.
The time to get butt hurt over it is when you’re typing a letter to the Chief of Police.
Seriously, I’ve been there. Officer didn’t like my cigar. Out it went. I went through a sobriety test which I passed. I received a bogus traffic ticket. He didn’t show up in court. It was all to waste my time. Judge was NOT happy about it and based on his remarks was planning on reaming the officer’s ass.
I hope this gets thoroughly investigated. Independent of it I hope every community engages in training of officers in how to keep situations diffused. I also hope parents and teachers teach children the same thing. The world would be a better place for it.
So your neighbors call the cops when someone unidentified is near a house? Were you doing something suspicious, like mowing your lawn? I’d get new neighbors if I were you.
Doesn’t matter. The cop should have seen him picking up the trash.
I would be absolutely floored if anyone got fired. If they’d killed the guy, maybe. But if no one got shot, the “reprimands” will be purely for show. Nothing will really be done.
The propensity of cops to profile black people is a huge problem, but also a huge problem is just how bizarrely aggressive they are, especially in the USA (as compared to other first world countries.) The horrific Daniel Shaver shooting being a prime example, but the cops are so commonly like that now. It is a product, I would assume, of a lot of things, including the increasing militarization of the police forces. Hell, cops wear camouflage a lot now, even in situations where it makes no sense.
No guns were aimed at him despite the claim. No arrest was made despite your insinuation.
A great deal of angst over a how-to video of poor manners. All it does in reinforce bad behavior under the guise of moral outrage. It’s a self perpetuating condition. Hatred for police generates rude behavior that generates a bigger response.
If you don’t understand that agitated behavior ramps up concern for personal safety then talk to a policeman. They have to deal with this on a daily basis.
There’s a reason we don’t see the 99% of investigations where the police are met with polite adult behavior. Everything is quickly sorted out and everybody is on their way.
A few months ago I witnessed a situation where a person was arrested and a relative shows up in a total tirade. He was completely unhinged. He walked back and forth screaming obscenities at the officers. What he got was a bigger audience.
It’s really not hard to avoid problems with the police. Treat them with respect and follow their instructions. If they tell you to put down what is in your hands than put it down. In the video discussed the subject is holding a long pole with a trigger on the end of it. Gee what does THAT look like to an officer? I would have put that down in a New York second without being asked.
This is not a good example to rage against. Nothing happened. There are current examples of shootings that deserve this attention.
Magiver, your take on this seems best summed up by “respect authority, especially in the moment; if there are abuses of authority, there are ways to correct them later.”
This is not, in fact, true for black people the same way that it is for white people. There is a history literally centuries long of authority bullying and disregarding black people in a way that is not the case for the typical white citizen. A lot of the outrage over this incident relies on this context.