A reader close to the question responds:
Of course there are racist cops – there are racists in every profession – but I don’t think cops as a whole are more racist than other professionals. As a white male cop, I’ve been accused of being a racist by black people and Hispanics and of reverse racism by whites.
On multiple occasions I’ve pulled black people over because their brakes lights, taillights, or headlights are out; it’s one of the more common reasons to stop someone. Most times you are following the car and don’t even know the race or sex of the driver. On several occasions, after explaining why they’ve been stopped, they tell me what a racist I am and they know their lights work. When that happens, and if it’s safe, I’ll have them exit their car and show them which light(s) is out. Even after I prove I’m not racially profiling, they insist I’m still a racist.
One of those times involved a black cop from Camden, NJ.
Every single one of his rear lights was out and he thought I was a racist for stopping him. Once, before I was even a cop, I was shopping at Target, browsing the DVD section. There was a middle-aged black man in the same area. After a few minutes we both walked away. About 5 minutes later, I happened to find myself near the same man browsing the electronics section. Apparently the man assumed I was store security and was purposely following him because he was black. He approached me, made a comment I no longer remember, and left the store angry.
Finally, I once stopped an older white male for multiple reasons. As soon as I walked up to him, he accused me of stopping him because he was white and saw him as a chance to raise money for the town through tickets. He was irate and told me I should stop real crimes.
The truth is, people perceive racism when there is none in order to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. While off duty, I’ve been pulled over at gunpoint and have been treated like crap and yelled at for no reason by cops. Every time it was my fault because I had committed a traffic violation.
The Dish 