05-20-2023, 04:00 PM
(05-20-2023, 03:33 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I'm pretty sure that I read that violent crime went down under 'stop and frisk', and rose sharply once it was not in effect. Are you able to confirm?
The numbers did go up in some areas, but not by much and, as with anything, drawing a direct correlation isn't exactly simple. What is interesting is that proactive policing is exactly what most citizens want. It's far better to prevent a crime from occurring then to arrest the perpetrator afterwards. The problem is that it takes experience to be good at it and it's instantly open to accusation of racism as high crime areas in large cities tend to be largely minority population. You need look no further than our little sub-forum for examples, and these are people making this accusation third hand.
A small example that any experienced LEO will confirm. You see a person walking down the street. The minute they see a uniformed officer they touch their waistband. This is a huge indication that person is carrying a concealed firearm. For people who aren't used to carrying, or are doing so illegally, there is a huge impetus to touch the firearm to confirm it's where it should be and not visible (we call it "printing"). Is this sufficient pretext to stop this person and give them a quick pat down? I'd bet the answer would depend on the person being asked. There are certainly people in this sub-forum who would say no. But an experienced officer will absolutely approach the person, just to interact. The vast, vast majority of the time this person will run, which makes the question easier to answer. But even then I'd be willing to bet that some people here would still argue against that being probably cause. Most of the time in those types of situations you'll be able to make out a shape that indicates a firearm, making the question moot, but what about situations in which that isn't the case?
All of this makes proactive policing extremely difficult to pull off. As it is subjective the line between reasonable and unreasonable suspicion can be hard to define, especially for those ill disposed towards law enforcement to begin with.
