Austin Police Are Racist

Austin cops are racist against black people and use excessive force and police brutality more on the East side. Austin police are corrupt straight up to Chief Acevedo. Furthermore, El Paso P.D. is racist against mexicans & latinos.

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The above sentiments have been expressed to me in all seriousness by multiple people in regular conversations. These people tend not to be police or have regular dealings with the law. This post was inspired by my Darling Wife, who was one of them!

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She had a relative arrested recently, and passed on the sentiments of her family in El Paso that the Police probably leaned harder on this guy because he's brown. I tried to be gentle when I reminded her that she, her mother, her sister, her brothers, etc., were not present at the time of arrest. That her relative was drunk, driving on a suspended license, and has a history of a bad attitude to boot.

Here is my experience: people like to take the part of people in their group. (insert your minority class here) of a certain stripe get all upset when one of "their own" gets less than 5-star hotel service from the Police. They conveniently overlook the criminal behavior of their fellow (insert your minority class here) and exaggerate the actions of the police.

Examples?

As above:
Family perspective: A man was arrested and his family "HAD TO" pay to get his car out of impound and him out on bond. This is because the cops are racist and they would have let a white man go free. They could have got the car going eventually.
Police perspective: A man was discovered in a car stopped on the side of the road. The man has a history of DUI and appeared to be intoxicated (arrestable offense #1). He was the sole occupant of the car, and must have been driving. His license is suspended (arrestable offense #2). The car was disabled. He was taken into custody and the disabled car was towed from the scene. He was released on bond to his own recognizance.
Reality interjects: The man has no jobby-job and would lose nothing financially to stay in jail until his hearing. His car would have been towed anyway, and it was a traffic hazard. He was drunk and didn't have a license or insurance.

Another, locally:
East Side Perspective: A woman was shot by the police just because she was black, and fighting with somebody else. They wouldn't have shot a white lady!
Police perspective: Officers arrived at the scene of a fight between two females. One female was on her back on the ground, the other was kneeling over her. The woman on top had a knife and appeared ready to murder the unarmed woman on the ground. Police warned the knife-wielding woman to drop the weapon. When she moved to stab the woman on the ground, they fired several shots and she was hit. She died of her injuries.
Reality interjects: Being stabbed with a knife is FIVE TIMES as deadly as being shot. A knife is more effective than a gun within its operating range, and the officers knew that. There was no time to disarm the woman; the only choice was to prevent her committing murder by disrupting her central nervous system. This disruption is unfortunately permanent.

As to the charge of corruption, I have only heard it expressed by people who are, shall I say, not exactly aware of all the reasons and methods behind police doing some of the things they do. Perhaps there is a tendency to believe Alex Jones more than Sergeant Jones? I have had limited contact with police during my sojourn here. Every officer I have met (a dozen or so) was the essence of calm professionalism, with a [deleted] good reason for doing and saying what he did. A very few cases of individual bad cops have been reported, and those were dealt with appropriately. Absent some pretty amazing proof, I am going to have to relegate people who charge APD with being a corrupt institution to the "loony" side of the spectrum.


And finally, from a black man, here is a handy set of tips on how not to get your ass kicked by the Police.