My family saw a police car hit a kid, then I learned how NYPD impunity works

1> Patrol public spaces to deter illegal behavior in those places, direct traffic, punish traffic offenders, offer directions to tourists, etc

2> Respond to calls from citizens, investigate the crimes that those calls are about, locate and apprehend the associated criminals.

I've only lived in places sparsely populated enough that is mostly impractical except along highways and around major construction sites.

The VAST majority of the value provided to people by the police clearly comes from - it's the reason that no sane person would mug me (or kill me) for $40 cash on an unpatrolled country road, or invade my home and take up residence there against my will. 99.9% of citizens benefit from , as it's the main deterrent to any antisocial person coming and taking whatever they have of value.

It seems to me (though I don't have data) that most (nearly all?) the mistreatment of (maybe mainly black) citizens by police that has been garnering media attention over the past decade or so, happens during the course of .

Over window tinting.

And regardless, let's not move the goalposts to consider only the time after Brooks fired the Taser. After all, it's not like that was the first opportunity the officer had to calculate how many shots it had left.

That is not the question.

The assertion is that the lady was terrified, the constable failed to acknowledge this, and failed to act appropriately.

The constable doesn't seem like a raging racist to me. That makes this video even more important to learn from. Let me recap.

1. The car was not moving. 2. It was dark. 3. The constable thinks the window is too tinted, but it's hard to tell in the dark. 4. The lady doesn't want to be handled by police. 5. The constable agrees to get a woman officer on site, but is suspicious about the civilian's failure to cooperate. 6. The constable is irritated about being defied. 7. The officer chooses not to wait 10 minutes for the lady officer to arrive.

The end result is a confrontation between a civilian and police officers, then somebody jailed for legally tinted windows.

I am not black. I cannot completely put myself in the woman's place. But I don't have to do that to see problems here.

1. Making an issue of a parked car with possibly tinted windows after dark is a clear fishing expedition. It doesn't have to be racially motivated to be wrong.

2. De-escalate. De-escalate. De-escalate. Just chill for 10 minutes and let the lady officer show up. While you're waiting, ask the woman about the weather, if she's done anything interesting that day. Did she pay to have the windows tinted? Small talk. Build some rapport. Maybe even just outline a bit of what is going to happen when the lady officer does show up.

If the constable was suspicious about the tinting, the most he would have expected was to write a citation. But he was prepared from the very beginning to smash windows and detain by force if necessary. Why would that be necessary? Why was there some expectation of that from the outset?

The fellow seems nice. He seems polite. He seems very suspicious. He acts suspicious. He escalates when he is defied. There's no real way around it. He picked a fight. That's not nice.

I can totally see myself mishandling this situation. To me, that makes it a great video to pick apart and study inside and out to learn from.

Lesson #1: Why did you approach the car in the first place? What was your true suspicion? What was your real intent?

Be honest. This is really, really important. Getting this answer right really, really matters.