Fitting a certain profile is not probable cause. Walking in "a known drug area" is not probable cause.
If you disagree, then perhaps you're OK with cops searching your car or your house, just because they feel like it. Same difference.
The problem is that the cops even have to resort to such tactics.
The solution is proper application of justice. Equal enforcement of the laws.
If you just spank a criminal’s hand, he will continue to break the law. We have a mess on our hands because it is what WE as a society are willing to tolerate. Until that changes, things will only get worse.
"No cop has a right to "stop and frisk" anyone unless there is probable cause."
You are precisely correct.
Those in favor of "stop and frisk" should also be comfortable with police randomly stopping Ford and Toyota vehicles on certain days of the week while Buicks and BMW cars are stopped on the alternate days. Hey, if it halts just one crime, right? Houses can be searched on nights and weekends.
People...always be careful what rights one gladly hands to the police because it is a s-l-i-p-p-e-r-y slope to tread.
It’s always nice to see some support for the 4th Amendment here. It’s not a popular amendment.
The stop and frisk policy in blatantly unconstitutional, and not for racial reasons.
In fact such encounters are to be analyzed under Terry v. Ohio, and the officer must be able to articulate facts giving rise to reasonable suspicion for the stop, and the subsequent need to firsk (usually they just say officer safety).
But the detention without a legal basis is illegal.
I don’t care a bit about whether it works or not, that’s not how we treat the Constitution.
They targeted people (white, black, hispanic... they targeted ‘poor’ or ‘appeared poor’) in Texas. At least they were equal opportunity thugs down there.
It made me mad that if I were driving our nice car, cops ignored me. But if I were driving our ‘beater’ cops followed me like sharks. I *never* got pulled over in the nice car, but in the beater, I was pulled over twice. Both times, they gave an excuse, no ticket. No warning.
Middle class housewife, trying to save money and live below our means to pay off debt the Dave Ramsey way. That turned me into a target. And it was blatant.
Cops do target. Cops do profile. And many times they’re wrong.
Funny thing is, the biggest group of druggies that I ever personally knew were rich people in New York. They put high school kids to shame.