Rodney King dead:

RomanNose said:
No I suggest we stop search and searches on racial minorities where in the vast majority of cases nothing is found.
What you don't understand is that there are absolutely loads of black youths who have nothing to do with gangs who have their privacy invaded on a regular basis.
I would hate to be black in London and I am sure you would as well.
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It could be argued that their safety is also being increased due to the stop and search policy, as young black men are, in some areas, statistically more likely to be victims too. Also, how the stop and search is done is a big factor, but I'm pretty sure it would get old very quickly if it kept happening to me.
 
On one hand King wasn't exactly a model citizen, on the other hand the conduct of those officers was appalling... it certainly seem like people in a position of authority can get away with rather a lot - it was only by chance that this particular incident was capture on camera, imagine it wasn't filmed and Rodney King simply made a complaint re: his treatment - doubt anything at all would have happened.
 
Skunkworks said:
It could be argued that their safety is also being increased due to the stop and search policy, as young black men are, in some areas, statistically more likely to be victims too. Also, how the stop and search is done is a big factor, but I'm pretty sure it would get old very quickly if it kept happening to me.
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But most victims of gang violence are other gang members anyway.
 
OP stinks of something out of context so I'm staying away!

Forgive me for thinking that the OP has posted something in hope of a massive over-reaction and an ensuing flame war...
 
PianoBasher said:
OP stinks of something out of context so I'm staying away!

Forgive me for thinking that the OP has posted something in hope of a massive over-reaction and an ensuing flame war...
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Sure that's what I did by posting a CNN news report on the death of a man who became a symbol of the civil rights movement......

:rolleyes:
 
Castiel said:
Sure that's what I did by posting a CNN news report on the death of a man who became a symbol of the civil rights movement......

:rolleyes:
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From the news article alone I'd be outraged, but I have no clue on his history with the law, and frankly, I can't be bothered to look it up because I'm hammered.
 
RomanNose said:
Yes we all know that case.
Still doesn't mean the met should allowed to be racist.
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Are the met racist for using racial profiling, given that black gun and knife crime is rife in the capital?

Perhaps the black community need to report instances of gang related activity more often if they want this to go away?!



edit: Yes, I am aware that the perpetrators of Rhys Jones' killing were not black. Just pointing out that gang activity is not without its innocent victims.
 
Dabbles said:
Are the met racist for using racial profiling, given that black gun and knife crime is rife in the capital?

Perhaps the black community need to report instances of gang related activity more often if they want this to go away?!



edit: Yes, I am aware that the perpetrators of Rhys Jones' killing were not black. Just pointing out that gang activity is not without its innocent victims.
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Yes it is racist to specifically target one racial group.
You really need to remind yourself just how small the gangs are compared to the size of the black community in London.
If racial profiling was allowed then it could mean that the police only target certain groups because they are more likely to catch criminals.
That's really unfair to the people who have nothing to do with gangs and it means that they might be searched 100 times and a white person might never be searched.
 
RomanNose said:
Yes it is racist to specifically target one racial group.
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No, it isn't. It would be racist if there was no correlation between the number of knife/gun/gang related incidents and the colour of the assailant. In this case, there very much is.

RomanNose said:
You really need to remind yourself just how small the gangs are compared to the size of the black community in London.
If racial profiling was allowed then it could mean that the police only target certain groups because they are more likely to catch criminals.
That's really unfair.
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It is unfair, but unless change is made within the black community to report gang activity then this isn't going to go away. If anything, by rioting, it means the police have to reduce the number of people they search to pander to the offended group, meaning more gang members will get away with carrying weapons because the police are now scared to sop and search them.
 
Dabbles said:
No, it isn't. It would be racist if there was no correlation between the number of knife/gun/gang related incidents and the colour of the assailant. In this case, there very much is.
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I'm not sure there is...

Targeting people based on skin colour is very dubious IMO.

Targeting people hanging about in groups on the streets, targeting people sporting gang clothing etc... is perhaps more sensible.

You'll also likely find that while the % of say black people stopped in a particular area exceeds the % in the population of that area it doesn't necessarily infer that black people are being targeted - as a % of people observable on the street, loitering in groups/gangs the it might well be similar.

There are probably a few factors involved - gang membership, poverty, location etc... because black people might make up a higher percentage of the people within a group doesn't necessarily infer that skin colour is at all relevant - you'd likely find that white people who happen to be poor, have gang associations etc.. are as likely to be criminals too. London riots illustrated this well - plenty of white kids involved too, just as easily influenced by gang culture etc...
 
RomanNose said:
No I suggest we stop search and searches on racial minorities where in the vast majority of cases nothing is found.
What you don't understand is that there are absolutely loads of black youths who have nothing to do with gangs who have their privacy invaded on a regular basis.
I would hate to be black in London and I am sure you would as well.
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Stop and search stats are misleading - its very easy to claim that a particular ethnic groups is being targeted by comparing the make up of a population of an area with the make up of those stopped. In reality its the observable population on the streets at the time the operation is carried out that is relevant.

Overly simplistic example: if an historically black area is say 50% white 50% black - but the 50% white element is made up largely of 20-somthing yr old hipster's who've moved there in the last couple of years because its 'edgy' then a police operation targeting people on the street might well result in 90%+ black people being stopped - because most of the white hipster kids are working in their advertising agencys in Soho during the day, not hanging around on the streets.
 
Yes they are misleading and not particularly accurate but it's really the best that can be done.
But again I still think they are being misused and the powers should only be used on those actually involved in gang activity and are known to the police but at the moment it seems they are used on all black youths which seems very dodgy.
 
tbh its no wonder some police snap, having to deal with those sorts of people every single day, every single hour of their job, drugs, rape, robber, murders.
 
cheets64 said:
tbh its no wonder some police snap, having to deal with those sorts of people every single day, every single hour of their job, drugs, rape, robber, murders.
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No police officers in the Rodney King case 'snapped'. There's pretty convincing evidence that the entire police department had an endemic racism problem - just like the London Met police and Mark Duggan shootings, or Stephen Lawrence fiasco. They either turn a blind eye where they should have a duty, or they use their legal powers wrongly. American police are far more brutal and have far more permission to use 'legal force' than British police. No one had a psychological 'snap' in this case, so please stop re-presenting the history as something it is not. They were racists.
 
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