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This is
taken from a "Community Policing" question and answer via e-mail
forum in California:
The question is: I would like to know how it is possible for police
officers to harass people and get away with it?
And the Reply from a really cool cop was:
It is not easy. In California we average one cop for every 2000 people.
About 60% of those cops are on patrol, where we do most of the harassing.
One-fifth of that 60% are on duty at any moment and available for harassing
people. So, one cop is responsible for harassing about 10,000 residents.
When you toss in the commercial, business, and tourist locations that
attract people from other areas, sometimes you have a situation where a
single cop is responsible for harassing 20k or more people a day. A
ten-hour shift runs
36,000 seconds. This gives a cop one second to harass a person, and
three-fourths of a second to eat a donut AND find a new person to harass.
This is not an easy task. Most cops are not up to it day in and day out. It
is just too tiring. What we do is utilize some tools to help us narrow down
those, which we harass. They are as follows:
PHONE:
People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a
person for special harassment. "My neighbor is beating his wife"
is a code phrase we use. Then we come out and give special harassment.
Another popular one on a week night is, "The kids next door are having
a party."
CARS:
We have special cops assigned to harass people who drive. They like to
harass the drivers of fast cars, cars blasting music, cars with expired
registration stickers and the like. It is lots of fun when you pick them o
ut of traffic for nothing more obvious than running a red light.
Sometimes you get to really heap the harassment on when you find they have
drugs in the car, are drunk, or have a warrant.
RUNNERS:
Some people take off running just at the sight of a police officer.
Nothing is quite as satisfying as running after them like a beagle on the
scent of a bunny. When you catch them you can harass them for hours.
CODES:
When you can think of nothing else to do, there are books that give ideas
for reasons to harass folks. They are called Codes. Penal, Vehicle, Health
and Safety, Business and Professions... They all spell out all sorts of
things for which you can really mess with people.
After you read the code, you can just drive around for a while until you
find someone violating one of these listed offenses and harass them.
Just last week I saw a guy smash a car window. Well, the code says that is
not allowed. That meant I got to harass this guy.
It is a pretty cool system that we have set up, and it works pretty well. I
seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with
it because the good citizens who pay the tab like that we keep the streets
safe for them.
Next time you are in my town, give me a single finger wave. That is a
signal that you wish for me to take a little closer look at you, and maybe
find a reason to harass you.
Looking forward to meeting you.
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