When police practice to 'the letter of the law,' it creates a very narrow path for citizens to walk without bumping into violations. That is not good police work. Good police work is about serving and protecting human beings that aren't robots or briefed on the law. There is a problem here and I am not sure what it is exactly, but, police are harassing citizens to achieve a bigger picture. At any rate, the practice as noted in this film of Sandra's interaction is testament to a policing system gone bad. This level of policing is a danger to any citizen, not just African Americans; but; I betcha they fall into the dragnet more often than not.
A couple of other thoughts.
African Americans, being of lower income, will have irrational decisions to make. It is not a matter of fixing the broken tail light, so much "Can I afford to fix the tail light?" And considering what it takes to fix a broken taillight these days, that is a sincere problem for lower income people. The courts don't take that into consideration when processing a citation. They don't ask for proof of income to know if a person can afford the ticket.
AND.
The police officer may have a supervisor that processes dash-cam videos to decide about performance on the job. If the officer's supervisor is citing the officer for missing a lane change without signalling, the path of behavior for citizens gets smaller and smaller.
I don't think there are police unions in Texas, but, it is the responsibility of police unions to assist the officer to a 'good' and/or 'reasonable' practice. There is no doubt the video starts with harassment of a woman already upset at missing her turn signal when she pulled to the slow lane. Sander's life was not in danger until she stopped for the police lights nor was she a problem/danger to other drivers on that road that day and time.
I also believe those that released this video included the previous stop to influence those watching the video of Sandra.
There is a lot of ethical issues going on within the police forces in the USA, including the use of grand juries and the like. The standards need to be reviewed. What might look good on paper isn't carried out well in practice.
A couple of other thoughts.
African Americans, being of lower income, will have irrational decisions to make. It is not a matter of fixing the broken tail light, so much "Can I afford to fix the tail light?" And considering what it takes to fix a broken taillight these days, that is a sincere problem for lower income people. The courts don't take that into consideration when processing a citation. They don't ask for proof of income to know if a person can afford the ticket.
AND.
The police officer may have a supervisor that processes dash-cam videos to decide about performance on the job. If the officer's supervisor is citing the officer for missing a lane change without signalling, the path of behavior for citizens gets smaller and smaller.
I don't think there are police unions in Texas, but, it is the responsibility of police unions to assist the officer to a 'good' and/or 'reasonable' practice. There is no doubt the video starts with harassment of a woman already upset at missing her turn signal when she pulled to the slow lane. Sander's life was not in danger until she stopped for the police lights nor was she a problem/danger to other drivers on that road that day and time.
I also believe those that released this video included the previous stop to influence those watching the video of Sandra.
There is a lot of ethical issues going on within the police forces in the USA, including the use of grand juries and the like. The standards need to be reviewed. What might look good on paper isn't carried out well in practice.
