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Cops 101: NYC High School Teaches How To Behave During Stop-and-Frisk
HughPickens.com writes Kate Briquelet reports in the NY Post that Principal Mark Federman of East Side Community HS has invited the New York Civil Liberties Union to give a two-day training session to 450 students on interacting with police. "We're not going to candy-coat things — we have a problem in our city that's affecting young men of color and all of our students," says Federman.
"It's not about the police being bad. This isn't anti-police as much as it's pro-young people ... It's about what to do when kids are put in a position where they feel powerless and uncomfortable." The hourlong workshops — held in small classroom sessions during advisory periods — focused on the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program and how to exercise Fourth Amendment rights when being stopped and questioned in a car or at home.
Some law-enforcement experts say the NYCLU is going beyond civics lessons and doling out criminal-defense advice. "It's unlikely that a high school student would come away with any other conclusion than the police are a fearful group to be avoided at all costs," says Eugene O'Donnell, a former police officer and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. NYCLU representatives told kids to be polite and to keep their hands out of their pockets. But they also told students they don't have to show ID or consent to searches, that it's best to remain silent, and how to file a complaint against an officer. Candis Tolliver, NYCLU's associate director for advocacy, says was the first time she trained an entire high school. "This is not about teaching kids how to get away with a crime or being disrespectful. This is about making sure both sides are walking away from the situation safe and in control."
Some law-enforcement experts say the NYCLU is going beyond civics lessons and doling out criminal-defense advice. "It's unlikely that a high school student would come away with any other conclusion than the police are a fearful group to be avoided at all costs," says Eugene O'Donnell, a former police officer and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. NYCLU representatives told kids to be polite and to keep their hands out of their pockets. But they also told students they don't have to show ID or consent to searches, that it's best to remain silent, and how to file a complaint against an officer. Candis Tolliver, NYCLU's associate director for advocacy, says was the first time she trained an entire high school. "This is not about teaching kids how to get away with a crime or being disrespectful. This is about making sure both sides are walking away from the situation safe and in control."
... teaching the cops how not to alienate the people?
Some law-enforcement experts say the NYCLU is going beyond civics lessons and doling out criminal-defense advice.
Which is apparently necessary.
The ugly truth about NYC is that it would be ungovernable without a very large and powerful police force because it's an extremely diverse and class stratified city. Studies have repeatedly shown that trust people between strangers deteriorates as a function of the increased diversity of a population. Does this mean minorities and such are "bad?" Of course not. What it means is that a city which is basically a miniature United Nations is going to be likely held together by an iron fist in a velvet glove, not shared customs and values which often lead to conflict resolution without getting the state involved.
Advice I got from a cop: Most cops are great guys and a few are psychopaths with guns. The best place to fight it out is in court where they won't be able to shoot you and get away with it ;)
Civics classes have been sorely missing from school curriculums and this is exactly the kind of civics information people need.
I have NEVER seen a civics class where how do behave during a police stop was anywhere on the curriculum. I think it is incredibly depressing that something like this is even remotely necessary. And sadly it actually does seem to be necessary. These kids are basically being taught (for good reasons) how to behave safely in the face of institutional racism. Learning how to behave during a stop and frisk should never be necessary. Ever.
Add in some basics on personal freedoms and rights, civic duties, local government, and taxation and you've got an educated populace.
Knowing your rights and knowing how to (safely) go about asserting those rights in front of some racist thug with a gun and a badge are VERY different things.
"It's unlikely that a high school student would come away with any other conclusion than the police are a fearful group to be avoided at all costs," says Eugene O'Donnell, a former police officer and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Then the lessons are effective and teaching exactly what they need to teach.
There are a good deal of "common sense" things that haven't seemed to soak into younger generations. Things that someone born in the 70's, 80's and 90's would likely have been exposed to and had been "taught" to some degree or another. The Police force has changed. The same cop may not patrol the same neighborhood 4 or 5 days a week. When they did, they got to know the neighborhood. They knew it's people, who "belonged" there and who didn't. Many lived not-too-far away and lived in a similar neighborhood. The Police and the people understood one another, had common ground. It seems that balance has changed.
If it's not going to go back to something like that, then our youth probably do need to be "taught" how to interact with these authority figures who aren't from their neighborhood, don't know them from the drug-dealer down the street. Until we sort out how to make the Police more local to any place it protects, make them feel like neighbors, then we're not doing the right thing unless we teach the youth how to properly interact with Police, without disrespect for either party. Remember: In the same way a Fireman runs into a burning building; this Officer is going to be running towards the gunfire if there's trouble, not away from it like the average youth on the street.
Bottom Line: If our Police aren't going to also be our neighbors, in our neighborhoods, then we need to re-learn out how interact with them.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
The more productive method would probably be external oversight that actually has teeth instead of internal wrist slapping followed by a high five.
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I really don't understand how you can come to this conclusion without harboring some seriously racist ideas yourself. Unarmed black kids are getting killed by the police all over the country. That is not an acceptable outcome. The school can't fix the interaction from the side of the police officers, but they can teach kids how to respond in those situations so that the risk is minimized. How can that be anything but good?
Some law-enforcement experts say the NYCLU is going beyond civics lessons and doling out criminal-defense advice.
So wait, we're assuming that they're all criminals to begin with?
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
See, that is the problem with Miranda. What you say can be used against you. Why can it not be used for you? The police should not be there to try to put you in jail. If you are innocent, the evidence they collect should be allowed to be used to keep you out of jail. Right now the way it works is they collect evidence for and against, and the prosecutor will simply not bring up the evidence which exonerates you. They do have to share that with your lawyer, but it is up to your lawyer to bring up the evidence which exonerates you. Basically the prosecutors train of thought is, "This guy is probably innocent, but I can probably get him convicted if I run the case in such and such a fashion". That is completely the wrong attitude.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
You forgot...
4) Profit!!
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The issue is with number two. (2) Follow their orders and do not become combative.). Following orders which are not legal, and are unconstitutional, out of fear for personal safety means that we are literally living in a Police state. Yes we know it is illegal, but he might kill you for pointing it out to him... The issue is so systemically out of control that it needs much more than advice on how not to get killed by cops.