Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« The Morning News | Obama Basher Gets Clobbered... »

Friday, May 16, 2008

On Racially Profiling the Invisible

posted by on May 16 at 8:47 AM

I got a postcard! My name was misspelled, but I’m cool with that.

thoughtful_missive.jpg

The text, in case you can’t read it:

1) The Seattle police mostly shmooze [sic] + rarely police—when you see a police car parked, there’ll be another one around the corner.

2) On Pine St across from Nordstrom’s, a Fed-Ex driver stopped to deliver a package + got a ticket. This never happens. The driver was Asian. You should check the ethnicity of ticketed drivers.

Could police really be racially profiling people for parking tickets? I must demur. After all, parking tickets are issued to unoccupied vehicles, thus preventing the ticketing officer from seeing the driver or identifying his or her race. Besides, if all the cops are congregating to schmooze, they probably wouldn’t be able to watch each driver, make a note of which cars were parked by Asian folks, and ticket their cars. But I do appreciate the note.

RSS icon Comments

1

What was on the front of the postcard?

Posted by kid icarus | May 16, 2008 8:51 AM
2

Racial profiling aside, only a journalist could incorrectly correct somebody for misspelling "shmooze".

Posted by El Seven | May 16, 2008 8:53 AM
3

The crime data don't support the claim that the SPD is sitting around eating donuts and writing tickets to brown people.

Given that the violent crime rate is relatively low, and the non-violent rate is high, and the number of police per capita is the lowest of any city in the US, it's clear that our overwhelmed police are spending all their time chasing down the worst crimes and ignoring most everything else.

And anyway the meter maids, not patrol cars, are the ones writing the tickets.

Posted by elenchos | May 16, 2008 8:56 AM
4

@ 1) It's a postcard for The Counterfeiters--a movie about "a genius con-artist put to work by the Nazis." Seems gripping.

Posted by Dominic Holden | May 16, 2008 8:56 AM
5

Cops who write parking tickets are bored and rude. They're never hot, either. They always look like training wheels.

FRRRRRRIIIIISSSSSBEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBQQQQQQQQQQQ!!!

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 16, 2008 8:59 AM
6

I bet the cop has an ax to grind with FedEx, not Asian drivers. Maybe his wife owns a UPS store.

Posted by DOUG. | May 16, 2008 9:08 AM
7

Daniel Bennett Keinecker?

Posted by Fnarf | May 16, 2008 9:09 AM
8

@ Fnarf - That's way too lucid for DBK.

Posted by kid icarus | May 16, 2008 9:13 AM
9

@7

No way. Word count is off by a good 500.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 16, 2008 9:13 AM
10

I'm the first to say that racial profiling exists... but I don't think this is a very good example of it.

Posted by SDizzle | May 16, 2008 9:16 AM
11

of course it's not a good example of racial profiling. "parking while asian"? i don't think so.

Posted by ellarosa | May 16, 2008 9:27 AM
12

I love the way the Stranger staff gets THE most
BAZAAR letters.


And I LOVE that you share them with us.

Posted by catnextdoor | May 16, 2008 9:29 AM
13

@4: It's quite gripping.

Posted by lime joy | May 16, 2008 9:30 AM
14

Stopping in a moving lane of traffic is a moving violation and not a parking ticket. So I bet this person did get a ticket but is calling it a "parking ticket" like saying “what's the big deal.”

They SPD has been aggressively enforcing this for years, even before closing 3rd Avenue during rush hour. 4th Avenue near Westlake Center is the worst for getting those tickets that count against your insurance.

I warn people about them but they are like “what’s the big deal I am only stopping for 15 seconds?” But any stop to pick someone up will get you a “moving violation” by the motorcycle cops. This is typically done during rush hours.

I remember being stuck behind an Armored Car that had parked to make a pickup during rush hour and was blocking everyone and my partner said “where is the police to give them a ticket?” Why are the police so bias and favor corporate vehicles? I guess they’re finally listening.

Posted by Gay Seattle | May 16, 2008 9:52 AM
15

You should see the notes? stories? revelations? we get in some of our newspaper boxes. DBK and the far beyond.

Posted by Circ Peep | May 16, 2008 9:53 AM
16

You can racially profile based on the car. If it's a tricked out civic with a dashboard screen hooked to a ps/2, well....

Posted by daniel | May 16, 2008 10:28 AM
17

Movies have postcards?
People can look like training wheels?
I learn so much from you people.

Posted by hillpagan | May 16, 2008 10:31 AM
18

@9 -- I'm assuming there are twelve more cards in the set that just haven't arrived yet.

Posted by Fnarf | May 16, 2008 10:40 AM
19

FedEX, UPS, etc. don't get regular traffic tickets. They usually have accounts with the DPT and are billed for their infractions on a monthly basis.

Posted by Dougsf | May 16, 2008 1:45 PM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).