Minorities more likely to get pulled over in three of every five suburbs

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-profile11.html

Minority drivers are more than twice as likely as whites to get pulled over by police in 32 Chicago suburbs. Minorities were most likely to be pulled over more than whites in the south and southwest suburbs, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of state Department of Transportation data.

Minorities are at least five times as likely as others to get curbed in Bedford Park, Forest View, Merrionette Park, Hometown, Stickney, South Holland and McCook -- towns with largely white populations and police departments.

Police chiefs in communities high on the list insist the numbers are skewed by inaccurate estimates of how many blacks, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans drive through their communities. Even if the numbers are true, some of those chiefs say there is no racial profiling -- the targeting of minorities -- occurring.

Harlandez Meals doesn't buy it.

"If you're black and young, they will pull you over," said Meals, who is 20 and African American, and lives in Robbins. "That's how it is. Cops see a young black man, and they think the car is stolen. That happens every day out here, anywhere."

[cleofus1]

1. when i lived in LA

i used to get pulled over once a month...more often if i was in a well to do part of town...

a lapd once told me...all mexicans are criminals...or else they are about to be criminals...

[202 456]

2. Please post this officer's name....

These racists shouldn't be allowed any anonymity

[saigon68]

14. Around here its called D W B

"Driving While Black" after they stop the "BLACK MAN" they hand cuff him and put him on the Curb "FOR THE OFFICERS SAFETY"

Thanks Renquist

[fleabert]

18. sad but true for my dh as well.

I have been pulled over maybe five times in my life, he's been pulled over five times in the last year. DWB = driving while brown OR black.

Great quote from a police officer, I have a great friend who is a police officer, he once said: "I have never known a person to put on a badge and not become an asshole."

[T Wolf]

3. It is true in suburban Philly too.

I live in Jenkintown and this little borough is notorious throughout the region for being a trap for minorities who dare to drive through. And even though the Dems have controlled Borough Council (and thus the PD) for quite a while, the practice continues.

Anecdotal evidence from anyone you talk to as well as simple observation whenever you pass a J-town cop who has pulled over a driver tells the truth, plain and simple for all to see.

I can only guess that it is much worse (though how I cannot imagine) in areas further out where the population is lily-white and repuke.

[AX10]

11. Which says that the Democrats are not being serious about...

racial equality. sad.

[eternalburn]

4. All you have to do is listen to a police scanner........

....to find this is a given.

[AX10]

10. What do you hear?

[Lisa]

5. A girl I knew in grade school married a guy who drove a nice sports car

He used to get pulled over quite a bit. It used to annoy him, because he had a responsible job, and had been a fighter pilot during the Gulf War -- and yet, people would see a black guy driving an expensive car, and just make assumptions.

He died on 9/11/01 -- he was the co-pilot of Flight 93.

[alarcojon]

16. Heartbreaking. n/t

[are_we_united_yet]

6. Shocking

[alarcojon]

8. I assume you're being sarcastic?

I, as a Latino male, am not shocked at all.

[are_we_united_yet]

17. very

[TheCentepedeShoes]

7. DWB

"Driving While Black." Not as uncommon as we'd like to think. Used to hear remarks alot when growing up here when someone would see a black person driving outside "their" neighborhood. The stuff we heard when we were young, surprised we didn't all grow up to be racists.

[AX10]

9. A Connecticut State Senator was pulled over...

because he was driving a BMW 7-series. His name was Alvin Penn from Bridgeport, a city. This happened in September 1998. Mr. Penn went up to Trumbull (white suburb) to pick up his grand daughter. A Trumbull cop (pig) pulled him over, harrased him with questions for a half hour, then let him on his way with a warning about 'safe driving'. Little did das copper know that he pulled over a PROMINENT State Senator. The cop was fired and the investigation led to the show 49 of Trumbull's 63 cops were not properly certified. The FOP (union) came to their defense with a bunch of crap about how 'hard it is to be a cop' and it's not fair to suspend them for this minor oversight. :eyes: Cops will stop anyone for a 'minor oversight'.

-For the record, Mr. Penn was a business owner who had done very well for himself. He earned the $70,000 luxury car.

A am no fan of the Fraternal Order of Police. They will blindly defend the most vile, Un-American cop out there. That's ONE union, I'd be happy to see broken up.

[mirandapriestly]

12. A Successful ObGyn who drives a very fancy car

lives in Bellevue, which is a wealthy suburb of Seattle. He told me he was pulled over ALL THE TIME for nothing. I'll bet most people have heard this from someone they know.

[HockeyMom]

13. Our experience

We are white. My husband came home from work, changed out of his suit into jeans and tshirt, and took my old Mitsubishi to pick up our daughter at a friend's house in a very upper class area. A cruising patrol car pulled him over, asked him where he was going, made him get out of the car, and told him the front driver's side light was out. They told him to go home and fix the light.

An hour and a half later, I took the SAME CAR with the same "broken light" to the same neighborhood and passed the same patrol car. They DID NOT STOP ME. Why? Maybe because I looked more like one of the neighborhood Moms driving the second car? Whereas, my husband looked "out of place" in this neighborhood, dressed as he was in a old car?

My husband was very upset about this and even called a detective we know about this incident. He said this experience made him better understand what black people must go through.

P.S. - There was NOTHING WRONG WITH THE FRONT LIGHT. They clearly were profiling him (poor person in rich neighborhood). Yes, even being white.

[NNN0LHI]

15. Nice story but not comparable in any way to what happens to blacks

My hair used to be almost to my waist and I had a full beard. Cops wanted to arrest me constantly. My hair all fell out and my beard turned gray so I shaved that and now I have cops wanting to be my buddy.

All your husband had to do was go home take a bath and put back on his suit and no more harassment for him. Black guy doesn't have the option to go home and change the color of his skin.



See the difference?

Don

[AX10]

19. But it does not give zie cops the right to....

harrass him.