A fellow ran a stop sign and ran into my car in San Jose about 8 years ago. The police came and began their usual routine of checking driver's licenses and insurance. The guy who ran into my car had no driver's license, no insurance and no car registration ... all REQUIRED by law to be in your possession when you drive in California. He had no form of identification whatsoever.
This is EXACTLY the kind of thing police frequently run into in Arizona and other places where illegal immigration flourishes. It is NOT racial profiling to assume there's something fishy about a person who can't identify himself or even prove he has a residence. I have no patience for this nonsense argument we're hearing that assuming there's something fishy about such a person must not be done because it can be profiling. Well, DUH! In fact, EVERYONE working in roles of dealing with people breaking laws (police, firemen, military, etc) is taught to pay attention to everything and draw reasonable conclusions about the person, what they're doing and why they're doing it. Acting 'suspicious' IS a legitimate thing to consider. It can save a cop's life for one thing. And it's called profiling the situation or person!!! Profiling of itself is an essential(!) tool to police, firemen, military, etc. It helps them do their job AND protect themselves. Evaluating a situation and the people involved is WHAT THEY MUST DO. To tell cops they must turn off all their instincts based on training and years of experience just because the person they've stopped for legitimate reasons may be latino is not only nonsense, it is flat dangerous to the cop and other citizens in the area.
This is exactly what Arizonans and citizens throughout the country want something done about. When a cop stops someone who cannot provide BASIC(!) legally required documentation the cops IN FACT ALREADY(!) have sufficient reason to arrest them!
Think about what happened to me above. I didn't do anything illegal. I was the 'victim' and they checked MY ID! I had broken NO laws but the cop check all my paperwork. I had no problem with that. If I get stopped by a Fish and Game person who wants to check my fishing license EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NO REASON TO BELIEVE I'VE DONE ANYTHING WRONG that's fine with me. Why? Because by doing that with OR without reason to believe something's wrong they will be catching people who are breaking the law. Should they be allowed to ask for ID when they do catch someone doing something wrong or if their behavior is 'suspicious' (like carrying a creel in a catch and release area even though they haven't done anything wrong if there are no fish in the creel)? Absolutely.
Suspicious behavior like driving eratically and running a stop sign isn't just suspicious, it's illegal. If a cop stops someone for doing what he/she thinks is illegal or even 'suspicious' has every right (and responsibility!) to look into their paperwork. If, when a person is stopped, they act nervous or evasive to questions it's completely logical that there could be something illegal going on or even that the cop's life could be at risk. NO rational law-supportive person can make a sensible argument that cops have no business checking ID if they've stopped someone for law-breaking actions or even suspicious behavior. History and cops' personal experience are full of examples where their intuition about suspicious behavior they can't quite put words to has saved their own or someone else's life. Most law-abiding people have NO problem with cops inquiring into their documentation and legal status because they know the cops are trying to protect them and other citizens. I suspect that most of the people who are opposed to the new Arizona law are either law-breakers themselves, may be inclined to break the law sometime or have friends or relatives they want to protect from being arrested (even though they have broken the law).
We are a country of laws. We created it so. We appreciate having laws, even ones that intrude on our personal lives to a limited extent because those laws keep us safe from people who don't care about living lawfully. Those who don't want to live in a nation of laws should either learn to get along and do what our culture has set up as our standard or go somewhere else.
Do various types of law enforcement officers profile people in order to figure out who may be breaking the law? OF COURSE they do! There ARE certain kinds of behavior that TEND to indicate something else illegal could be going on. If they stop you for doing one thing wrong do they have any reason or justification for at least suspecting something more or worse could be going on and, therefore, ought to check the person out more thoroughly? Of course they do because, much of the time, there IS something more going on. Their experience and, frankly, human nature tell us that!
Checking further into what they may be up to at that point has NOTHING to do with whether or not they're latino. It has EVERYTHING to do with keeping the peace and enforcing SENSIBLE laws such as possessing a valid driver's license and proof of insurance. Having broken at least four laws IS sufficient reason to suspect there may be more the person has done or is doing. It is sufficient justification to check further.
The average American citizen MUST comply with such laws and has a good chance of being arrested if he/she has broken so many of them. People who have no documentation when a cop stops them has broken at least four laws, including whatever the cop stopped them for in the first place. What is it about such a person that they automatically get to go on their way without further action or scrutiny? Because they're latino or because we, for some insane reason, want to grant special privileges to potential illegal immigrants that citizens(!) don't have? What kind of insanity IS that?
So, here's the way it appears the pro-immigration folks want cops to behave. If an American citizen is stopped for a traffic or other violation (as cops do everywhere already) and cannot produce ANY documentation, it's okay for cops to enforce the laws as long as they're obviously caucasian, black or asian but if there's ANY chance they may be latino, the cops should let them go and not pursue any further examination of other potential illegal activities that breaking FOUR laws already suggests is a good possibility. Under such crazy rules as the pro-immigration crowd seem to want, just the ACT of stopping a latino could be judged profiling even if the cop has no way to know what nationality the driver is. A good prosecutor would have no trouble proving the cop MAY have had reason to believe the driver was latino (by way of car type, music being played, mexican flag in the window, whatever). Even if the cop actually hadn't noticed any of that, the fact that he COULD have known would be sufficient grounds to say profiling COULD have been used (no way to prove it wasn't!) in which case we need to err on the side of not offending potential illegal immigrants and throw the case out. We need to do that because it's more important to protect illegal immigrants' 'rights' than protect citizens and citizens' interests. Don't you see how crazy that thinking is?
We created a police force to enforce laws and keep the peace, thereby keeping us safe and secure. We pay for that for a reason. We have created the laws they much follow. We've made great effort to ensure the laws are color/ethnicity-blind (by ANY country's standards!). We need to let cops do their job to protect us, our property, our national security, and themselves. If a cop stops someone for a legal reason, we not only must allow him/her to pursue other suspicious activity when there's reasonable bases on which to suspect something's fishy, we must INSIST on it! It's complete nonsense to do otherwise.
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