Police profiling for institutional profit./authoritarian predation

The fictional Sheriff of Nottingham is alive and well in Daly City California. Only just south of Liberal San Francisco the officers of this bedroom community are out for blood.

Profiling? Well my being a middle aged white male might make some of you scoff at my complaint but hear me out for a second: I have a thirty two year perfect driving record in California. No accidents, no moving violations. Now you don't get this kind of clear record by being careless. I watch the road in front me. On the lookout for pedestrians, road signs, speed limits and (most of all) avoidance of the Daly City Police Dept. The last is not so easy. My main problem?

Driving under the influence of poverty.

At least three times during the past year and a half, (maybe four times) I've been pulled over by the Daly City Police for absolutely no reason at all. When the DC fuzz perform their semi annual sweeps? Well watch the hell out. Especially if you drive an older car. Like around the holidays, back to school etc.

Myself and a friend observed the DC cops on one of their seasonal sweeps last Spring. We watched as they lay in wait for some less observant types to make the mistake of not coming to a full stop at a stop sign. Out of the fifty or so cars we watched only the persons driving older cars got nailed for infractions. If it was a newish Taurus, Lexis etc. the driver could get away with a mildly rolling stop.

Not so the poor fella in an older shit wagon: Both of these got popped. Later I observed a very elderly Philippine woman stopped for some infraction. This was near the Civic Center. I guess the local gendarmes felt threatened by her because they sent a whole posse of six cars over to help out the officer writing the ticket.

Threatening? Yeah sure. She looked like her age matched her weight: Just under 90 lbs/years...

OK I'm not concerned about them when they pull someone over for not coming to a full stop or an illegal turn. that's what they should do. Or drunk driving weavers, tailgaters etc.

But the DC fuzz behavior is nothing short of mercenary and illegal. Expect them to search your car and belongings.



They put me in handcuffs just a little over a week ago. A 54 y/o man with two kids who've graduated from college with high honors. I'm on disability. I was put in bondage because I very politely mentioned that I did not consent to a search of my truck. I was very very calm and diplomatic about the matter. "Officer, I'm sure you will do as you are going to do. I just wish to state in front of the video cameras here on your car that I do not consent to a search of my property. I am not going to attempt to stop or threaten you at all but this is my statement".

BANG! "On the floor mister! Hands behind your back". I am cuffed and put in back of the puke seat of the squad car for fifteen minutes. Filled with some anxiety I start counting backwards from 1000 by 3's in order to avoid a seizure. My medicine was in my vehicle but I decided to lump it as I didn't want the cops to confiscate my prescription meds. Didn't want to even bring up the subject.

The cop is one of those short guys with a Napolean complex and shaved bald head. He hates me of course because I'm so tall. You didn't get the right genes pal but heck it sure ain't my fault...

Then the pose comes...

I had two dogs in my truck. Only one has a leash. A whole host of new Cops make an audience around my dogs. They are excited and happy because my dogs are so friendly.

"Oh they're just so cute aren't they" the female officer says to me.

"Like I care lady..."

Then the cops let me out of the vehicle in order to control the older dog who doesn't have a leash. I had to call the dog, several times in fact, and then hold his neck with my hands still tied behind my back. I hold this dog for maybe twenty minutes with my hands still cuffed behind my back.

They search the truck from top to bottom but there are no drugs or contraband. Disappointed, the cop allows me to pull a few belongings out of my truck. He had come close to ruining my collection of musical instrument accessories by mishandling the case they were in.

The tow truck takes my truck away along with a couple hundred dollars of hand tools I can't take with me on my person. I am released from cuffs but must use my belt to control the older dog which has no leash.




CODA: Had these rascals just left me alone another couple of weeks I could have paid up my registration and never had a problem. However this wouldn't have raised enough money for the San Mateo County municipality.

Also: The pull over occurred on Geneva Bl. Right on the border between San Francisco and Daly City. An area where San Francisco has a lot of poorer people and public housing. There isn't much of Daly City there really. Not enough to justify a continual ambush!

No the purpose of the DC cops laying in wait there is to get the overflow of petty dope deals and related vehicle confiscations. The cars and property being stolen by the authorities even without any convictions. It's a real money maker for the system.

And if guys like me have to lose their job or business in these hard times because of vehicle confiscation?

Well that's no problem at all to the fascist pigs of the Daly City police Dept.

will solve this problem of driving while poor.

You were driving with an expired registration? Knowing how these creeps operate, you were handing yourself over to them, dammit.

I'm sorry this happened to you. You got so close to making it, dammit........................

CODA: Had these rascals just left me alone another couple of weeks I could have paid up my registration and never had a problem.

I love the way you leave out the fact that you were driving on expired tags until after the end of the story. Not to mention the way you jump from talking about what fascists the Daly City police are, to mentioning an incident at Civic Center (which is smack in the middle of San Francisco and nowhere near Daly City).

Look, if your registration was expired then that's why you got pulled over. It has nothing to do with the fact that you're poor or that your car is old as you implied in your opening paragraphs, and everything to do with the fact that you were driving on expired tags. Let me guess, you were going to renew your registration a few weeks from now and then next year renew it a month early to make up for a month of driving around without tags? I don't think so.

If the cops were so much at fault how come you didn't even mention the reason they pulled you over at the beginning of your story? Now I don't really believe your report about the rest of what happened either. What a fucking crock.

I don't write with any intent of obscuring the details of my vehicle confiscation.

You yourself sound like someone who thinks poorer people ought to be prosecuted merely of their lesser means. This is the real story: The police acting like a collection agency for the auto insurance industry.

Tell ya what: Spend a few months living in one of the projects, section 8 housing or whatever. I'm gonna bet your whole outlook on cops will change.

I don't write with any intent of obscuring the details of my vehicle confiscation.

:rofl:

Sure, that was why you left out the part of the story about why you got stopped. I see I wasn't the only one to notice that little slight of hand.

This is the real story: The police acting like a collection agency for the auto insurance industry.

I thought you said your registration was out of date, not your insurance? Why yes, you did.

I don't have any particular outlook on cops, they are a mix of good and bad...and believe me, I know plenty about being poor...it's one reason I ride the bus instead of owning a car I can't keep on the road. I do have a negative view of bullshit artists, though.

I've seen in a not so small minority of Democrats. A mean spirited, petty angle on anyone they disagree with. They won't admit it but in their minds this group thinks:

"Those struggling to make ends meet are not working hard enough". Again, you won't admit it but this is the way you think. It is a precursor to a fascist mentality. Or maybe it IS a fascist mentality. Close to anyway.


The particular infraction the DC cops used to take my car is a "fix it ticket" in all the surrounding communities. The more Liberal San Francisco does not want to legally steal working people's cars for small matters. It's called accountability in governing: We have a strong sense of helping the underdog and do not want to exploit them to raise money at public auction.

Conversely with the Daly City police is just a bunch of room temp IQ jerks with badges. Thugs for hire.

I HAVE seen DC cops stop people in older cars for minor infractions that they let the more expensive cars slide by. Happens regularly and on a predictable basis.

They do pull over older cars for no reason at all.

An old friend of mine was written a ticket for a "No right on red" but there was no sign indicating such. An elderly man, he had to fight for months to clear his record. And there never was a "no right on red" sign at the intersection.

"Those struggling to make ends meet are not working hard enough". Again, you won't admit it but this is the way you think.

Sure...guess you missed the bit where I said I ride the bus because I can't afford to keep a car on the road. Sorry buddy, but you know nothing about the way I think. And what I think is that you glossed over a pretty important detail when you were telling your story, and jumped straight in at the part where you were refusing to allow them a search...you're either a very bad narrator or you're not giving us the full story.

My skepticism has absolutely nothing to do with your income level, and everything to do with how it reminds me of some more 'creative' explanations I've heard in traffic court.

Seems like you jumped to conclusions. My apologies for harshness. You just don't know me that well.

I was merely driving under the influence of low income: A recession related poverty that required me to continue driving (can't bring tools to work on a bus) and without that car I was up shit creek. It was an awful experience. Again, the other localities generally don't impound but merely write fix it tickets.

Fortunately providence prevailed and today my good friend Tony just GAVE me an aging but well working Volvo. Just flat out donated it to the trumpet section (me).

For more on Tony see: http://www.westbayrhythm.com/theband.html Somewhere in the site is me.

best,

Wiley