The post on Carding raised a concern among readers that cooperating with police as a custom makes Carding effective.
That's quite true.
My concern is that for most young black men (and that's who are stopped - let's not pretend otherwise) anything other than immediate and polite cooperation might lead to unfortunate results. Remember it's a good idea to save yourself and then save the world.
However, if if if one wants to exercise ones rights on being stopped a viable line is:
"I do not wish to answer any questions. Am I free to go?"
This repeated several times will likely lead to the speaker being allowed to go on their way. The problem is it may not be effective.
Regardless in NO CIRCUMSTANCE should someone ever resist the police in a physical way. That is very dangerous. Swearing or treating the police with any discourtesy is likely not as dangerous but it is still imprudent.
2 comments:
At least in Toronto you have a mayor who vigorously defends the rights of citizens not to co-operate with the police.
Civil liberties don't fly in Calgary Alberta where the police will beat you, arrest you and then charge you with resisting arrest. The officers (usually two of them) will detail on their report that there was forced used and that the suspect resisted verbal commands to comply with orders. Good luck beating that one in court! There are even a few cases where Calgary police have been caught on camera using "alleged" excessive force!
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