Quote:
Originally Posted by WhiteTiger
I had a look over the article because I was asked to (I have been trying to avoid such articles lately) and what I thought about the situation. So I figured I would share my thoughts on it here. Take them for what you will.
Someone called the cops because they saw an interracial couple kissing and making out and their assumption was that the woman was a prostitute. I've taken calls like that before, even here in Calgary. It's a s****y assumption to make, but folks are allowed to call into the police with those kinds of concerns. So it was likely that officers were dispatched to a suspected prostitution incident with a description of the pair involved and nothing more than the original callers prejudices.
Cops arrive on scene and see the lady described. They have a reason to ask her for ID (she matches the description of someone they are looking for).
How the situation would ideally go down from here is that the cops would explain that someone called about a possible prostitution act in the area, and she matched the description. She would say "Well, I was kissing my husband a few minutes ago, he's right over there." All involved would go to husband (or have him come over) and it would be established that they are husband and wife and off they go with everyone muttering about NIMBY racist snoopycallers.
But she doesn't show her ID, so now they have a reason to suspect that she is guilty of a crime (prostitution) and she's refusing to show ID. So she is detained until the officers can figure out what's going on (because if she had been a prostitute and the officers didn't look into it/let her go we'd be hearing about that...). Now the husband shows up, and everything ends up sorted out. She is released and they go on their way.
It's not the most ideal outcome, but was anyone actually "profiled" by the cops? From what I can see, the issue started with the person who called it in. The cops showed up, did what they had to do to determine that no offense had taken place, and let all involved parties go on their way. Hopefully with a "We're sorry for the inconvenience, ma'am."
I just look at this and wonder what would the reaction be if the lady had been a prostitute and the cops hadn't shown up to check it out. I'm sure we'd be hearing about how lazy cops just sit at the donut shop and don't care about cleaning up neighborhoods.
So it seems to me that the cops didn't do the profiling, but were responding to a citizen complaint.
At any rate, I'm glad I no longer live in the States, honestly.
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I contest their diligence in addressing the complaint. How long were the couple monitored for? Did they arrive on scene, and expeditiously approach the couple, based upon the complainants remarks without a prudent amount of observation themselves? Perhaps this is on me, but identifying someone as not being a street walker, doesn't seem like an exceptional skill.
Just seems obtuse to me, and asking for identification is the easiest methodology.