View Single Post
(#141 (permalink))
Old
MMM's Avatar
MMM (Offline)
JF Ossan
 
Posts: 12,200
Join Date: Jun 2007
05-05-2010, 08:21 PM

I responded to the posts you responded to me, so if I skipped a couple pages that weren't addressing the issues I was bringing up, that is my fault.

Asking for ID to anyone stopped by a police officer on suspicion of committing a crime is normal procedure in any state in the union.

What you are saying is this law is meaningless, as it doesn't change anything about police procedures, as they will be doing what they would have been doing anyway.
  • So why is the state of Arizona requesting 10+ million dollars from the Federal government to help train officers in the enforcing this law?

Because that simply isn't the case.

"Reasonable Suspicion" hasn't been defined by ANYONE in terms of this law. It simply says it cannot "solely" be based on race. That solely is a big word and one you have ignored until now.

It also says the officer must act. That is the "shall" part of the law regarding the officer's actions. So it is easy to paint situations where this law would be pretty meaningless and everything goes right.

Cop pulls over speeder. Speeder has no idea. Cop takes in speeder. Suspects he is illegal because he has no license AND he is dark-skinned and has an accent. [Of course there is the then what...is he jailed? Deported? Goes to trial? What?]

However, it is also easy to paint situations where this law does not go well.

Cop pulls over speeder. Driver has ID that looks legit, but he has four passengers in the car that claim to be his wife and children, but none of them have ID. They are dark-skinned and have accents. The officer would have to take them in under the same reasonable suspicion of the first situation.

If they were white with no accents that "reasonable suspicion" would be unfounded. There's the 800-pound gorilla.

Let's say I am a citizen of Arizona. I now have the right to SUE my local law enforcement agency if I believe they are not nabbing enough illegal immigrants in my neighborhood.

Tell me, is that state money well spent?
Reply With Quote