Getting pulled over for being non-white?
Getting pulled over for being non-white?
Author
Discussion

yamai1

Original Poster:

15 posts

264 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
After watching that documentary some time ago on TV about the police being racist and picking on defenceless people including asians, black people etc. I'm finding it ever increasingly difficult to find any trust with the law.
A friend of mine has been pulled around 30 times in the last year or so for no justified reason whatsoever. He's asian and does have a nice car to be honest, but its no justification to be pulled over all the time. Car is in good condition, no broken bulbs or anything dodgy on car, it's taxed, mot'd and he has a full clean driving licence. Can only be one thing and I think it's about time he did something about it. Can he prosecute the police for harrassment?

yamai

philthy

4,697 posts

262 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Hi Yamai,
How old is your mate? for a few years after I passed my test, I used to get stopped all the time. I'd think it more likely, if he's a young lad in a smart car.
If your mate really does believe he's the victim of racism, he should make a compliant straight away. As with any organisation there are probably a few "bad apples" in the police service, and every effort should be made to remove them.

Phil

Dibble

13,254 posts

262 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
What reason is your mate given for being stopped? (Although technically, under s163 RTA 1988 (paraphrased), a constable in uniform can stop any vehicle - no REASON to stop is actually required). Is it the same officer that keeps stopping him?

In any interaction with the Police (except terrorism cases), your mate is entitled to the officer's shoulder number, and station to which they are attached.

Have you been with your mate when he has been stopped? Is it possible that he is driving like a tw@, and gets stopped the same as any other Lax Flower muppet who drives like that?

Does he drive a car that gets frequently stolen in the area in which he drives? We often target cars like Astras, Escorts and Novas, because they are easy to nick.

It's difficult to give a definitive answer without the full facts about every stop, but if your mate feels he is being discriminated against, then he is entitled to make a formal complaint.

Streetcop

5,907 posts

260 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Points well made by Dibble...

Your friend could always complain, like Dibble says...he could also plat fog catch clouds for the good it'll do him. Could make the situation worse...shock horror!

I would find it very hard to imagine that one police officer would stop the same person so many times. As Dibble says, it'll probably be a number of officers and perhaps how your friend drives and the areas he frequents and the times.

yamai1

Original Poster:

15 posts

264 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
like i said, hes a reserved driver and doesn't take the law into his own hands by driving like a tw@t. It's a number of police that have stopped him, asking him wheres he's going? why he's driving in the area and stuff about the car etc. nothing of any relevance to be honest. He's not of character to talk in an untoward way to the police. I think i'll advise him to make a complaint, but do you think it will be disregarded?

stackmonkey

5,083 posts

271 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Your mate doesn't drive a 3 series BMW, does he?

I never got stopped without good cause until I bought one, then it was over 25 times in 2 years, with no complaints or comments about driving or the car, no 'producers' given, no speeding etc. This happened day and night. I was 28-30 at the time.

Then I sold it, bought a 5 series, and didn't get stopped any more.

Streetcop

5,907 posts

260 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
yamai1 said:
I think i'll advise him to make a complaint, but do you think it will be disregarded?



I think it will be very much disregarded, yes?

If it's a number of officers, what do you think the outcome will be? Tannoy announcement in the station saying "No officer is to stop Mr.....driving.....etc etc"

It's not going to happen.

Now I don't know the area where he's getting stopped, but without your knowledge it might be an area frequented by drug dealers, burglars, car thieves etc and your friend is one of 300 such motorist who regularly get stopped.

Of course if you friend's car was to be stolen, he'd be wishing that the police would stop it then. Oh, but wait, they've been told by the Tannoy system not to stop the car.....Oh, bugger!

Joking apart friend, tell your friend to knock the chip from his shoulder, keep his documents with him whenever he drives his car and keep smiling...after all...it's good to talk..even to the police...

>> Edited by Streetcop on Monday 21st June 13:23

Davel

8,982 posts

280 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
We had a lad who worked for us years ago.

He had a bright orange Ford Escort with a black flash down each side - hardly blended in!.

He, we later found out, had no licence, no insurance and was stopped by the BiB and I should think that he was banned from driving.

Of course, like a pratt, he continued to drive the very same car and was naturally stopped again by the BiB.

He then tried to claim victimisation

Is your friend really being pulled for being non-white though? I don't believe that many BiB are racist truthfully (more like a rotten few spoiling it for the rest) and it's often all too easy to blame racism, ageism or sexism when it can often just not be the case - and yes there are exceptions to all these....


>> Edited by Davel on Monday 21st June 13:37

ATG

22,883 posts

294 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Streetcop said:
Joking apart friend, tell your friend to knock the chip from his shoulder, ...

Joking apart, what makes you think he has a chip on his shoulder?

Streetcop

5,907 posts

260 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
ATG,

I suspect that he might have a chip on his shoulder due to the comments that it might be because of his ethnic background that he was stopped.

In some areas, that's the very reason why some people are NOT stopped, due to the needless wasting of time afterwards justifying why the policeofficer made the decision to stop the vehicle.

When I was in the military I was stopped by the police almost every weekend when I drove through Lincolnshire on my way back to base.

Did I bleat that it might be because I had a shaved head or that I speak with a Lancastrian accent? NO, I bloody well didn't.

I took it on the chin, that the police were just doing their job and travelling criminals get caught during routine stops...fact...


Therefore, I was devoid of said 'Chip'....


If our police 'services' didn't spend so much time thinking about political correctness and covering their arses from dubious racist complaints, I sure we would all be in a better state.

Afterall, Gatsos can't discriminate and never have to justify their actions....You know where that'll lead, don't you.....

>> Edited by Streetcop on Monday 21st June 14:08

Streetcop

5,907 posts

260 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
stackmonkey said:
Your mate doesn't drive a 3 series BMW, does he?



Fantastic comment...

Ron? Is that you?...I miss you on the telly...

Nightmare

5,277 posts

306 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
well I think I may hold one of the countries records for being pulled over...the police do like a chat with me! To be honest, if I havent met some of the cops on here in the pas I'd be surprised!

I dont feel victimised. I'm young and drive expensive cars (not usually like a tw@t, but it has happened ) The police do sometimes make me feel like they're taking the piss a bit, cos have had the odd overly aggressive (always young) coppers on the case...but I accept it's life.

Have other people been with him when he's ben pulled over? There must be some reason. A lot of pulls are from a police car following you...unless they have very c;ever vision I miagine it would be rather hard to know what race he was before always stopping him....

His reg isn't B17E ME is it?!

Streetcop

5,907 posts

260 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Nightmare said:
well I think I may hold one of the countries records for being pulled over...



It was always in the early hours, with my car being the fastest on the A17...There were no cameras on there then and I was young and foolish...

I think I was stopped about 40 times in 1992 in Lincolnshire...My car just looked like it needed pulling over and it was always midnight to 3.00am so prime time for the A17 patrol car that was always parked on the approach to Sleaford..

Nevermind...like I said..it's life...and an easier life devoid of...........chips on shoulders...

>> Edited by Streetcop on Tuesday 22 June 07:50

Nightmare

5,277 posts

306 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
40 in a year aint bad at all! I reckon I'm well into the treble figures by now though...best way getting stopped 4 times in 25 minutes, by 4 separate cops, on the way to supercar Sunday in '98.

Hang on...actually this year, St Albans..pulled twice in 15 minutes (we've had a lot of these stolen recently sir....yeah, course you have) on the way to a mates...and then once on the way back. Total journey distance is only 3 miles each way!!

>> Edited by Nightmare on Monday 21st June 15:08

forever_driving

1,869 posts

272 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Like the BiB have stated, it's probably down to the car he's driving more than anything else.

A few years back I was driving around in a three series, got pulled over 10 times in a year. I sold the car about 5 years ago and I've never been pulled over (although that's probably due to the sad decline in police numbers )

gRsf12

224 posts

262 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
yamai1 said:
A friend of mine has been pulled around 30 times in the last year or so for no justified reason whatsoever. He's asian and does have a nice car to be honest, but its no justification to be pulled over all the time.


Anyone remember 'Not The Nine O'Clock News?':
Overzealous policeman sketch said:
Being in possession of thick lips and curly hair....urinating in a public convenience....walking on the cracks in the pavement...

ATG

22,883 posts

294 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Streetcop said:
It was always in the early hours, with my car being the fastest on the A17...There were no cameras on there then and I was young and foolish...


Well that explains why you got pulled, but according to yamai1 his mate doesn't drive like that. Bottom line is that we can't know why he gets pulled over all the time. Maybe it's the car, maybe it's the way he drives, maybe it's his age, maybe it's race. Sadly these are all plausible explanations. No doubt at all that it would be easy to blame race rather than admit, for example, that he drives on the limit of what the police will tolerate ... i.e. like a bit of a cock, but similarly it's too easy for us to say that it isn't race and he must have a chip on his shoulder.

cptsideways

13,819 posts

274 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Why not pop into local bib station and say hello, have a polite chat about it there can't be that many of them surely?

They might then start waving hello instead!, worked around my way when I was a young lad.

>> Edited by cptsideways on Monday 21st June 16:49

ATG

22,883 posts

294 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
Sounds like a good idea to me. Friendly chat has got to be better than going down the complaints root. The latter will get you nowhere and won't improve things one iota.

Ali_D

1,115 posts

306 months

Monday 21st June 2004
quotequote all
yamai1 said:
defenceless people including asians, black people etc.


So why does being black or asian make them defenseless??