Readers Response to Last Article

A comment by a reader...

Once again, people wonder why the crime rate is getting worse and why crime and shootings are out of control yet a small percentage of people complain that they are detained, patted down, or questioned by the police.

While it is true that typically a pat-down requires RAS to justify a stop for a WEAPONS pat down (i.e. articulation is needed for a pat down to locate weapons). In a growing world of crime and a criminal element, pat downs are needed to determine if people are carrying weapons in certain situations or to determine if a crime is "a foot". To take away another right that police have to combat crime because of a perceived "harassment" is ridiculous in the same way that the search incident to arrest within a vehicle for wingspan was removed recently. The search incident to arrest of a vehicle yielded many, many drug and weapons cases in the past.. many pending cases now dismissed due to the new judgement in searching criteria.

Lastly, it seems in the article that some minority groups are concerned with the disproportionate amount of people stopped are black or minorities. Further, it should be noted that there are a disproportionate amount of people in jails and prisons that are minorities. However, ghettos in the U.S. are also disproportionately made of of minorities and thus because of various environmental and social factors then a it stands to reason that a disproportionate amount of population being minorities will commit violent criminal acts within those statistical regions. This is not a racist statement, it is simply supported by statistical data submitted to UCR.

Lets face it, a disproportionate amount of aggressive or violent criminal acts committed in Salisbury and the surrounding area(s) resulting in arrests are committed by minorities. Again, this is not a racist statement, it is a fact. Therefore, that segment of society will come under closer scrutiny by police in day to day happenings. Just like it makes sense for the police to pay closer attention in lets say Chinatown to Asians who appear to be gang members. A disproportionate amount of crime in Chinatown is committed by Asians. This is criminal profiling, not racially profiling.

Lets look at this from another angle. Lets say that you are walking out to your car from the mall and see a well dressed older black man in a suit and tie, and a cane, apparently with his older wife, standing by your vehicle, looking into the window at your GPS. Could he be trying to steal it or perhaps he's just looking at it to determine if he wants to buy one like it? The same situation given with a younger white man wearing "gangster" clothing, with a crooked hat, baggie pants with underwear showing, and a shirt with a marijuana leaf printed on it and a swisher sweet stuffed behind his ear. Which alarms you more? The white male of course because given the same circumstances, he is more likely to break into your vehicle statistically speaking. Considering his clothing it itself; he wishes to communicate from a distance his attitude and demeanor toward society (although perhaps not a criminal, fitting the criminal persona). You know this because your brain rapidly deduces the risk of both subjects and comes to the conclusion that in the given situation the white male is statistically more of a threat.