TheDeceased
Ex-Bluelighter
So I got searched recently and charged with possession. I've always insisted to people of my generation that police require a warrant or probable cause, that they can't just search you because you look a certain way. But now that's all changed.
I was going to go to court and file a discrimination suit against the Victorian police force but apparently they have the right to discriminate.
I got on the bus the other day and I saw a big poster plastered on the inside of the window. It was a picture of a couple of police officers searching a young man and it said in big letters: "The New Powers of the Victorian Police: We can search you anytime, anywhere," which really means we will search you if you dress a certain way or if you have a particular haircut. Particularly if you're a male under the age of 35. It didn't say this on the poster, but I know it to be true. If I was a middle aged business man, I wouldn't be searched. The argument is that the searches are for weapons and that there is a certain demographic that is more likely to be holding knives/ whatever. I've discussed the issue with businessmen, with professionals of various fields. Those who aren't likely to be discriminated against say they don't mind the new laws - but of course they don't. They aren't likely to be singled out and publicly embarrassed, they aren't likely to be treated like second class citizens.
There is no difference, as far as I'm concerned, between compromising the rights of a racial minority and compromising the rights of a particular demographic.
If, statistically, American citizens of African or Latina descent are more likely to commit a crime, that doesn't mean that all American citizens of African or Latina descent should be treated differently by police.
If police are granted the ability to search people without warrants or probably cause, simply on suspicion, then they should search everyone. They shouldn't discriminate. I guess to most people this is obvious.
I just find it extraordinary how many intelligent Victorians accept this.
If we allow our rights to be compromised, where does it stop?
I'm fucking sick of being discriminated against. I'm ready to leave the country. But I fear pretty much all of the western, English-speaking world is the same. Ideally, I want to move to the U.S. - but I don't know if it's as easily to be discriminated against there, to be searched without reason, humiliated, embarrassed.
I didn't have a weapon.
I had a plant.
Fuck the police.
I was going to go to court and file a discrimination suit against the Victorian police force but apparently they have the right to discriminate.
I got on the bus the other day and I saw a big poster plastered on the inside of the window. It was a picture of a couple of police officers searching a young man and it said in big letters: "The New Powers of the Victorian Police: We can search you anytime, anywhere," which really means we will search you if you dress a certain way or if you have a particular haircut. Particularly if you're a male under the age of 35. It didn't say this on the poster, but I know it to be true. If I was a middle aged business man, I wouldn't be searched. The argument is that the searches are for weapons and that there is a certain demographic that is more likely to be holding knives/ whatever. I've discussed the issue with businessmen, with professionals of various fields. Those who aren't likely to be discriminated against say they don't mind the new laws - but of course they don't. They aren't likely to be singled out and publicly embarrassed, they aren't likely to be treated like second class citizens.
There is no difference, as far as I'm concerned, between compromising the rights of a racial minority and compromising the rights of a particular demographic.
If, statistically, American citizens of African or Latina descent are more likely to commit a crime, that doesn't mean that all American citizens of African or Latina descent should be treated differently by police.
If police are granted the ability to search people without warrants or probably cause, simply on suspicion, then they should search everyone. They shouldn't discriminate. I guess to most people this is obvious.
I just find it extraordinary how many intelligent Victorians accept this.
If we allow our rights to be compromised, where does it stop?
I'm fucking sick of being discriminated against. I'm ready to leave the country. But I fear pretty much all of the western, English-speaking world is the same. Ideally, I want to move to the U.S. - but I don't know if it's as easily to be discriminated against there, to be searched without reason, humiliated, embarrassed.
I didn't have a weapon.
I had a plant.
Fuck the police.
