The NYPD is skulking through the L train demanding IDs from Black and Latino men, again with zero justified cause or explanation as to why.

Source

  • Kairos@lemmy.today
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    17 hours ago

    Reminder that there legally cannot be a crime such as “failure to provide identification” outside of specific contexts like actively operating a vehicle, etc. Lots of states allow cops to require you to provide your legal name (and sometimes address) when detained, and courts usually have the ability to compell the same.

    • catty@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      In England, it’s necessary to provide name and address when arrested, but, it’s illegal for the police to arrest just to find out your name. But of course, how difficult is it for them to make up some asinine BS excuse?

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        “I smell weed” has been a classic for decades.

        A long while back, I was harassed by the cops for “acting suspicious” while waiting for some friends at the mall. This quickly escalated to “suspected terrorist activity” for absolutely no reason I could discern or anyone afterwards could explain.

        Cops just say shit. The best you can do is say you need to speak to a lawyer and clam up after that.

        • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          I had the cops try to pin a bunch of crimes on me and a few coworkers once. Thought my life was over for a few days because they were very serious allegations. Fortunately their police report was so ridiculous as soon as someone competent got involved the whole thing was immediately dropped. The claims they made had literally no evidence and multiple witnesses could prove they were lying. Cops 100% will say anything, it makes their job easier and there’s no consequences.

        • UnculturedSwine@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 hours ago

          A guy I knew was on probation and would be visited by cops on a regular basis. During one of the visits, one of his roommates was on his computer doing some programming. The cop looked angry and asked him “are you hacking?”

          Bruh…

          • Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world
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            7 hours ago

            To be honest, that’s probably a question he has to ask.

            When I was on probation I had a ton of random things I wasn’t allowed to do including any crime on a computer. But since I work in IT a lot of my job “looks” like hacking so I had to get a letter from my boss basically saying “he is not hacking at work”

        • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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          11 hours ago

          I got questioned by the police when waiting for the train in New York (state) once. I’m a white guy, though I had really long hair at the time. They came up and said someone had reported someone suspicious. I was like, well, I’m waiting for the train and my friends. They were like someone saw you looking in that car suspiciously. I said, that’s my car. They asked if I had proof so I opened the door with the key.

          Then my friend and her shitty little brother showed up. The brother yells “YO YOU GOT MY WEED??”

          Luckily the cops realized that was an idiot 13 year old white kid, and they left.

    • Fushuan [he/him]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      16 hours ago

      If lots of states allow cops to require you to provide your name and you don’t, isn’t that refusal to comply with a lawful order, and thus a crime?

      • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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        8 hours ago

        Sure, but if they demand your name, you tell them your name, they can’t then demand your ID to prove it

      • MonkRome@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Failure to id is a secondary crime, you first need to be lawfully detained/lawfully suspected of a crime, before id can be demanded in 24 states. In the remaining states you need to be arrested before id can be demanded. Driving a motor vehicle is different though. As long as an officer had a reasonable reason for pulling you over, they can id you even if you dispell their suspicions prior to providing ID. If you’re pulled over, it’s best to always provide ID.

        So it’s only a lawful order if the police follow the law, if they just walk down the street randomly asking people for id, then failure to comply with their unlawful demands can be thrown out by the courts. Of course the police can just lie and make up a reason they suspected you of a crime, which is why some states have made things like “smelling marijuana” not enough on it’s own.

        • AlexLost@lemmy.world
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          21 minutes ago

          The driver can be IDed while driving, but no one else is obligated to provide proof of ID as they are not lawfully nor unlawfully operating a motor vehicle.

  • ByteJunk@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    Well played by these two bros.

    Making them waste time and resources with nothing to show for it, plus standing up for those who can’t. Respect.

    • VitoRobles@lemmy.today
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      11 hours ago

      This is it honestly. When people slow down police/ICE, it creates a distraction.

      When they’re arresting grandmas and choking old people, causing a scene changes their focus and lets those people leave unharmed.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      The department is administered and governed by the police commissioner, who is appointed by the mayor to what is, nominally, a five year term.

      Can Zohran fire the existing commissioner and replace him? Idk what the bureaucracy around that looks like. Entrenched power structures have a way of slow rolling executives thru don’t like and ignoring rules they don’t want to follow.

      A lot of levers of power that worked for a Guliani or an Adams might suddenly stop working assuming Zohran can make it all the way through the general and into office.

    • destructdisc@lemmy.worldOP
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      20 hours ago

      Considering a lot of the NYPD straight up said they’d resign if he became mayor, I think he’s got a pretty good chance of bringing change if he really wants to

      • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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        2 hours ago

        If I was mayor of NYC, I would eliminate the budget to all existing departments, then create new departments with a fresh budget. The initial budget is for importing officers and administrators from Europe, sourced from nations that put them through a rigorous training academy that emphasizes deescalation and following laws. No existing personnel from the ranks of America’s police would ever be hired.

        Far as I am concerned, the police in America are a mafia, not keepers of peace. They have to be rooted out completely, if that is to change.

    • punkisundead [they/them]@slrpnk.net
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      19 hours ago

      The potential is there, but usually winning one election is not enough to actually achieve structural change such as stopping racist police actions.

  • Sjotroll@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Would someone care to explain why would they not show their ID? Is it better to get detained than showing your ID, unless you have something to hide?
    Anyway, in my country we are required by law to show police officers our IDs when asked.

    • stinky@redlemmy.com
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      1 hour ago

      Dumb question because we don’t know these men and we can’t answer for them. If you’re really interested, look up the case and see if there’s any news, they may have told their stories by now.

    • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      …it soon became evident that this net was cast too wide for any private agency. Not merely was my own mail opened, but the mail of all my relatives and friends—people residing in places as far apart as California and Florida. I recall the bland smile of a government official to whom I complained about this matter: “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.”

    • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 hours ago

      When assessing the degree and quality of liberty in a country, one of the factors considered in academic political science is the requirement of personal identification by law enforcement. It use to be a trope of Hollywood cinema that takes place in the Eastern Bloc (Warsaw Pact countries) that ordinary citizens and abvious tourists were routinely harassed by law enforcement for their papers, a stark reminder that here in the states you can even cross state lines without identifying yourself.

      It’s getting more interesting as law enforcement is pre-emptively collecting biometric data on school kids and other vulnerable demographics.

      Currently wending through state courts is the controversy of using biometric data to identify suspects, which may be regarded as an [unreasonable] search from which we (all, citizens or otherwise) are supposed to be protected, according to the fourth amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

      In this specific incident, the NYPD is notoriously racist and aggressive, so this may be contempt of cop while black As the adage goes, you can beat the rap but you can’t beat the ride. This assures these young men will have a bad week regardless of their guilt of any wrongdoing.

    • Guy Ingonito@reddthat.com
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      4 hours ago

      They know they’re being racially profiled and didn’t feel like playing along and making life easier for the cops.

    • HeyJoe@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      As others have said we are not required to provide ID unless there is a cause. Stopping 2 people without stating why means no cause and they have the right to say no and it should end with ok have a nice day, but our rights are tested more and more. Some good news is its generally an easy case for a lawyer to pickup and win meaning they could get a payout from the city. The sad news is generally nothing will be done about the cops who abuse their job and cause the tax payers more money in lawsuits that should never happen.

        • Psythik@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Because of the bootlicking statement you made.

          Cops in America are not your friend. They have no duty protect nor serve the American people. Their job is to write tickets and make arrests, to help fuel the for-profit prison system and keep the money flowing. (Empty prisons don’t generate profit.)

          Their second duty is to constantly harass people of color to make them feel unwelcome in the country. It starts with approaching brown people who have committed no crime and asking for ID. The goal is to be escalate things in hopes that the person they’re harassing will fight back, that way they have an excuse to charge them with assaulting an officer or interfering with police duties.

          It’s sick, twisted, and fucked up, and the worst part about is is that over a 3rd of the United States voting population supports this behavior.

    • secretlyaddictedtolinux2@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Because people want to be left alone without being harassed for no reason by dirty cops looking to increase their arrest stats and get more promotions.

      It’s awful not being left alone. For example, I know someone on lemmy who was viewing this sublemmy, didn’t do anything, got banned, and was so upset he actually died. The point is, people should be able to be left alone and do what they fucking want people being assholes.

      • Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        For example, I know someone on lemmy who was viewing this sublemmy, didn’t do anything, got banned, and was so upset he actually died.

        I smell BS.

        1. Didn’t do anything, but got banned? Possible, but improbable.

        2. Got so upset by a ban on Lemmy that the person died? So close to impossible that I would call it impossible.