We all judge on appearance, voice, posture, etc of others when talking to them. The key is to not overreact as this officer did, but to put the individual things into your total evaluation process and use them as appropriate.chasfm11 wrote:In general, I agree with what you are saying but seek a couple of clarifications.Keith B wrote: Appearance is one of the major factors that will definitely sway a LEO. It is basically all they have to go on when making a stop before they get to interact with the subject. While they may not be prejudice overall, first appearances are everything to everyone. We all judge someone we see when them approach us. That is what makes us go on alert or stay in condition yellow.
This very reason is why I state you should stay in your vehicle with the weapon concealed, and when they approach make sure you let them know you have a CHL and are armed. In Texas, you must do this when asked for ID by law, so it is smart to do it as soon as possible to let the officer you you are forthcoming and are not trying to hide anything.
1. Judging only by appearance is profiling. While I understand, at some level, the need to do that, it can have the result of discrimination if it is allowed to go too far. Since it has the potential for abuse, it is an area where constant emphasis by departments should be placed. To me, there is a big difference between me using Situational Awareness to keep an eye on those who appear to be more of a threat to me than others and a LEO using profiling to take actions against citizens. One is passive, the other is aggressive. What say you?
2. When taking action, one's motives are sometimes displayed. The officer in this case, I believe, betrayed some of his underlying thought process and it wasn't for the better of himself or his fellow officers. If he had methodically just taken control of the situation, even to the point of putting the man on the ground and handcuffing him, I would have been a lot more OK with it. The threats to shoot an otherwise compliant citizen and his foray into abusive language are as much about "appearance" as anything that the citizen did.
Profiling is a way overused term and I don't like it. Profiling, as referenced by most, in itself is wrong in the meaning it is the only thing that is used to assume guilt of an individual, i.e. he looks to be of middle-eastern descent so he must be a terrorist trying to get on the plane. This is wrong. The Israeli's use an evaluation and questioning process at their airports that take all factors into consideration when their passengers are interviewed before a flight. It works extremely well and they have had no issues in many years.
A LEO must also use these types of evaluations when they confront a subject. If they only rely on one aspect, then they are likely to overreact (as this one did), or they will miss other key factors and end up in trouble.
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