When I was in the military, I was at a base in a known gang area of San Antonio. There was a young man in the unit that dressed the part, talked the part, had the tats and had a car that was the part. (Oddly, enough, I was a cop in an Military Intelligence Unit-I was the cop, he was "Intelligent")
He asked me why he kept getting pulled over when he was off base, visiting his friends in gang areas.
After a couple attempts to explain that failed, I finally said, "If you don't like being judged by a stereotype, don't work so hard to live up to it"
In the end, he still thought he was being "Picked on"
When did you get the corn rows?
I did a knock and talk the other night. 2 H/M in an apartment that we know drugs come out of. Smiley dude and very naive.
He has pics of him and his gangster buds on the wall. "No, I'm not in a gang." Has a three ring binder on the table. I open it up and it says, "Scorpion=Sureno."
Who's Scorpion? "No, I'm not Scorpion, that's someone else."
Look over his shoulder and see a clock on the wall that has scorpions where all the numbers are supposed to be. If you're not Scorpion, then what's that clock for? "A girl gave it to me and she's from someplace in Mexico where there are lots of scorpions.
Turn the page in the binder. "Eduardo=Scorpion"
Hey Edwardo, what's this mean?
"That was there when I got binder. I just found it at the bus stop."
Five minutes later, while chatting on the sidewalk with another officer a B/M comes running up the steps from the lower apartments in absolute terror. He literally runs out of his shoes, before running past me. I figured he wasn't the threat and looked behind him and saw a Pit Bull chasing him. Didn't have to shoot the dog but it was very close.
There has been numerous "almost shoots" in my district lately. I will be shocked if I don't have to shoot someone in the next year. Shit happens so fast. Probation is over in 4 weeks. Im starting K9 training (read, getting gnawed on) next week and in about 5 years I should be near the top of the list.