Are cops heavy-handed with "our kind"?

Post Reply New Topic

Wondering if there's a perception, or actual experience, of police officers using excessive & unreasonable force against us? I've read horror stories in the news occasionally, of someone with an ASD getting pounced on, or roughed up or tased or what have you...often disproportionate to the perceived offense.

I think a lot of it stems from the simple fact that no human being can be 100% objective in their duties; the closest is a court judge due to the nature of precedent law and equality in the justice system. But the cops on the streets...they carry with them a lot of biases, it ranges from the lowest common denominator of the Mexican police who are every bit as corrupt as the criminals there, to cops who are just plain bullies (ever since school), and they see someone with ASD or Aspergers as being "that dorky kid" no-one liked at age 13 who they just want to take digs at all over again. To them, bullying behaviour is like heroin, they never got over it.

You can also see some allusions to the African-American community, who are afraid of police because of the bias they simply can't shrug off. So I think some of us tend to get victimized too, that we're seen as inferior and they feel compelled to "stick it to us". Cynical, yes, but there is an element of truth in that.

I'd say police departments have become more heavy handed in general over the last 20 years-- towards all demographics. That said the entire populace has become much more easy to agitate as well, which is also a concern for officers since they have to deal with agitated people consistently.

^^I'm curious what precipitated the officer approaching the kid in the first place, i.e. was he just fishing for something, was there a crime committed nearby, etc? If he was just fishing then it highlights a concern I've had for a long time with police: age profiling, assuming because a person is young and out and about they're up to no good.

He thought he was doing drugs and was acting strange because he was being fidgety, talking with his self... When approached, the teen kept moving away and seemed suspicious to the officer. The officer wanted to search him, because the string or what ever he was stimming with appeared to be like drug use or something. I would not call it age discrimination, but a lack of training and understanding of Autism.

Yesterday, I got pulled over going 107 mph and my license is suspended. The first thing I thought when the cop asked me to get out of my car was, did I put dry food down for the cats this morning. I wasn't worried about getting my ass kicked by the cop, that thought never crossed my mind. I was worried about my cats not eating if I end up in jail. But, I didn't even get arrested, just a summons, and I'm on probation. I went from sitting in a cop car, to sitting on the side of the road, smoking a joint, waiting for uber. Now, I have to deal with all kinds of fines and bull s**t to get my car back. In California, cops only care about generating money, even the parking tickets are $68. My ticket doesn't even have a dollar amount on it. I'm sure it's over $2k.

What I find absurd is when naive do-gooders state that "if only police had better training about autism and its manifestations...then this wouldn't happen..." sorry, but that's not the be-all and end-all. The fact is, you're always gonna have some prejudiced dickhead cops (who should not even BE cops in the first place) who let their predatory instincts override what they were properly entrusted with. Many people, cops included, look upon people with psychiatric disorders as inferior, to the point where they'll use violence on them just for their own warped gratification.

That, and they figure that since the person is "mentally ill", nobody would believe them anyway if they claimed a cop assaulted them. Thank gawd for the prevalance of surveillance cameras and smartphones!! !

I've had mostly positive encounters with police, including when I was homeless and sleeping in my car at the time. My only slightly negative encounters was in very small towns... But overall, most have been professional and this is including stops where I had multiple firearms in my vehicle.