Who’s Afraid of the Police in Arizona?
[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]
My police officer’s perspective on the Arizona law on illegal immigrants is up today on NRO. A sample:
First of all, as any police officer knows, it’s difficult to discern the ethnicity of a car’s occupants while following it down the street. This is all the more true at night or, as is very often the case in Arizona, if the car has tinted windows. You might be driving down the street and see a police car in your rear-view mirror and assume the officer is looking for a reason to pull you over. In truth that officer very likely isn’t paying any attention to you at all. Instead he is probably thinking about where he’s going to have lunch, what he’s going to do after work, or what a jerk his lieutenant is. Only when a driver commits some violation of the traffic laws is an officer’s attention drawn to a car, and the occupants’ ethnicity becomes apparent only when the officer pulls the car over and asks the driver to produce his driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. When a driver has none of these documents, as most illegal immigrants do not, it seems only reasonable that the officer be allowed make inquiries as to the driver’s immigration status.
And as DRJ reports below, the Los Angeles city council has voted to boycott Arizona over this bill. I greet this news with sadness but not surprise. I know where I’ll be taking my next vacation.
–Jack Dunphy
Jack – What you say doesn’t make any sense, because nk here says the AZ law will only lead to ethnic and racial profiling and stops by the police, nevermind the tinted windows. He’s a lawyer in Chicago!
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 5/12/2010 @ 8:50 pmIf the cops in Arizona are like the cops in corruption-run-amok Mexico, then, yep, I’d be afraid of them. Right along with all of the narco gangbangers south of the border, who apparently are seeping into areas north of the border, including places like Arizona, and who are slicing and dicing people left and right, leaving headless torsos and chopped-off heads lying around.
Mark (411533) — 5/12/2010 @ 9:17 pmThe Los Angeles city council are a bunch of reactionary jerks anyway.
Neo (7830e6) — 5/12/2010 @ 9:23 pmnk, you can get a fantastic Chicago Style hot dog here in the Hill Country of Texas. Just saying, in case that’s the reason you stay in the Windy City.
I have no idea what there is to do in Arizona, but I think I’m probably going there on my next vacation too. Sadly, this vacation will be in June. Any tips?
I really appreciate the insight about cops not actively looking for some infraction. I haven’t had a ticket since 2005, but I still get nervous when I see a cop behind me. It took me a while to straighten up my driving, so I prize my low car insurance premiums.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 5/12/2010 @ 9:25 pmThank you for the post Jack. I did not intend my comment to divert the thread.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 5/12/2010 @ 9:40 pmI really appreciate Jack’s post because it really does get to the truth of the matter: The whole objection to the Arizona law by the enlightened really comes down to prejudice.
If you believe what the left says, every law enforcement officer in the state of Arizona is a slack-jawed yokel looking to notch his gun with the arrest of someone who doesn’t look like him or her.
I know this because I was watching Cavuto today (at work, so I’ll probably be fired) and he had some muckety from California on (State Sen. Darrell Steinberg) and essentially saying, over and over, that the whole point of the law was to arrest people for being brown.
The interview was interesting in the sense that the left is so wedded to so many entangled stereotypes, talking points and ignorance, that it can’t make a coherent argument justifying whatever it actually believes.
But it feels good, because, you know, the Nazis did something like this sometime and that was bad.
Ag80 (f67beb) — 5/12/2010 @ 10:09 pmDustin:
AD - RtR/OS! (04f5c9) — 5/12/2010 @ 10:54 pmIf you have family, you might consider a house-boat rental on Lake Powell.
The water is warm, the scenery is to die for, and the silence can be deafening.
Dustin, you said you’re in hill country in TX? Is that anything like Hill County? Because I do believe I’m living nearby that now, having just moved to TX a month ago.
John Hitchcock (9e8ad9) — 5/12/2010 @ 11:34 pmIf the car has a ‘Mi Familia’ symbol on the back window with six stick figures, and a “Michacoan” license frame, and a Bad Boy sticker pi$$ing on “La Migra”, then I would make an educated guess. It is like the driver is just daring anybody to say or do anything; maybe that will change in Arizona now.
A better game (that cuts across all ethnicities) is something I like to play called “insurance/no insurance”. I trust it needs no explanation.
TimesDisliker (326469) — 5/13/2010 @ 3:47 amPolice cars are now equipped with mobile data terminals (computers) and can check out the license plate, and from there the registered owner for a valid drivers license, outstanding tickets, warrants, etc., in a minute or so while behind you. They don’t have to pull you over.
nk (db4a41) — 5/13/2010 @ 4:22 amAnd that is the state of Fourth Amendment law for cars these days. Since the computer check does inconvenience innocent drivers (yes, that’s the rationale) neither probable cause nor reasonable suspicion is required.
nk (db4a41) — 5/13/2010 @ 4:58 amdoes *not* inconvenience
nk (db4a41) — 5/13/2010 @ 4:58 amWhat do you guys think about this story? http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/05/12/Man-sues-for-jailing-as-illegal-immigrant/UPI-24521273715265/ Safe for work but pop-up ad.
nk (db4a41) — 5/13/2010 @ 5:07 amnk-
Am I right in thinking this is about an arrest in 2008, and the arrest was about driving with a revoked license? And he spent overnight (11 hours) in custody?
Sounds to me like a suit for hassle factor/extortion of the sheriff’s department.
When I see the abuelita arrested for walking down the street to buy an ice cream cone without ID then I will be worried.
In the meantime, I bet the practical affect of all of this on the police officer end will be to bend over backwards not to pull people over and not to check ID unless there is a really good reason, because they are going to be fighting litigation claims over nonsense anyway.
Elsewhere Andy McCarthy has written how he thinks the law really doesn’t help in law enforcement at all. (Sorry, no reference, I think I saw at PowerLine).
You know who really needs to look out? Canadians, Canadians with white skin, just to prove a point. But there are probably few Canadians driving with their Canadian plates in the summer months- but come next winter, just like at airports, the white haired grandmothers will be hassled at the mall, just you wait. Then we’ll have another crisis in our relationship with a neighboring country. 😉
MD in Philly (ea3785) — 5/13/2010 @ 6:20 amAdditional note.
I guess if AZ wanted to put out a “Not Welcome Sign” that would make illegals prefer CA/Texas/New Mexico this law might be effective that way, I don’t know.
MD in Philly (ea3785) — 5/13/2010 @ 6:25 amTucson is full of Canadians and Minnesotans from November to May. I haven’t seen any pulled over but you had better watch your speed. Before she left, Big Sister said she planned to balance the state budget by an increase in speeding tickets. The state is full of speed cameras. Look for white vans with a four foot mast sticking up. There is a camera on top of it. They don’t stop you; the ticket comes in the mail.
Sadly, this vacation will be in June. Any tips?
1. Don’t have a California plate on your car.
Mike K (82f374) — 5/13/2010 @ 6:27 am2. You won’t need a jacket or coat.
3. Tucson is much nicer than Phoenix.
4. Don’t have a California plate on your car.
“They don’t have to pull you over.”
nk – Even for traffic violations? How do they know who is driving the vehicle in such cases? D’oh.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 5/13/2010 @ 6:49 amWhen I am pulled over for a traffic violation here in Illinois, I am automatically asked for my driver’s license and proof of insurance. I would think anyone pulled over for such a violation, regardless of ethnicity, should be asked that question. Contrary to what our esteemed president thinks, I’ve never heard of anyone being stopped while on the way to buy ice cream, unless you’re in Chicago, and then I think they call it a mugging.
Rochf (ae9c58) — 5/13/2010 @ 7:26 am*They don’t have to pull you over to check you out.*
Happy, now?
In truth that officer very likely isn’t paying any attention to you at all. Instead he is probably thinking about where he’s going to have lunch, what he’s going to do after work, or what a jerk his lieutenant is.
That’s what the taxpayers are paying him for?
Most police officers are alert and always ready to keep the peace and enforce the laws. They are paid to pay attention to everything.
nk (db4a41) — 5/13/2010 @ 7:31 amnk:
“Most police officers are alert and always ready to keep the peace and enforce the laws. They are paid to pay attention to everything.”
You’re being silly. Dunphy did not say that the officer is not alert and ready to keep the peace and enforce the laws; he said that if you are driving in a way not to attract attention, you won’t get stopped.
Believe it or not, cops can do more than one thing at a time, watching and looking become second nature, allowing them to think about other things while driving down the street earning their pay.
Labcatcher (e1a008) — 5/13/2010 @ 12:01 pm