Rare bird sighted
Here's a surprise: I actually saw a motorcycle cop on Sandy Boulevard in the Hollywood District of Portland this afternoon. This coincides with the announcement today that they're reinstituting at least a slight semblance of actual traffic enforcement in town. “We’re super excited to bring back a portion of the division,” a city police sergeant said. “We’re looking for dangerous driving behavior, not who’s behind the wheel.”
The officer's last remark is pre-meditated. It reflects the reality that every time new statistics come out on traffic stops in Portland, the city's minority communities, echoed loudly by left-leaning journalists at the Weed and the Merc, point out how many people of color are pulled over, compared to their group's percentage of the population. It's racial bias, they complain.
It's hard to prove them wrong, especially given the track record of the Portland police over the decades. So what's the answer? Maybe there should be strict racial quotas for traffic stops. If that's what it takes, then let's go for it. Pull over a set number of white people to balance things out.
But please do start pulling over the craziest drivers. People are speeding around like maniacs all over town, and that needs to stop. Traffic fatality figures are moving in the wrong direction. Not to mention the fact that pulling people over often leads to busts for bigger crimes, like drug dealing and illegal guns.
What we have here is the familiar Portland tradeoff between historically racist cops and no cops. We've had a few years of no cops. It doesn't work.
re: quotas What’s a traffic cop supposed to do if a law is violated right in front them?
ReplyDeleteMaybe check for skin color before asking for license and insurance cards
Eh they’ll zap people when it’s Uncrowded and not that dangerous for for slightly exceeding the speed limit on the motorcycles or bear witness at best.
ReplyDeleteDon’t kid yourself.
Since covid when the roads opened up and gas was cheap/easy to waste everyone has gotten it into their heads that 100mph is the new normal in much faster & more fuel efficient cars than 2008 when traffic also cleared out, but gas was expensive and cars were much slower and less fuel efficient , the cops won’t pursue it when someone is really dangerously weaving in traffic or driving aggressively…;
That might be risky &/or involve actual work or brains?
Don’t really zip around much, but not really cheerleading or looking forward to being harassed by motorcycle dicks for petty shit/easy pickings?
When the cop pulls you over and asks "Do you know why I pulled you over?"
ReplyDelete