NJ Officers Could Have Acted Stupidly
Or, Class VS. Ass.
We have heard how the racial profiling by the NJ cops is legendary.
The incident began at 5 p.m. when a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood several blocks from the oceanfront looking at houses.
The police officer drove up to the man, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name.
The following exchange ensued:
“What is your name, sir?” the officer asked.
“Bob Dylan,” Dylan said.
“OK, what are you doing here?” the officer asked.
“I’m on tour,” the singer replied.
A second officer, also in his 20s, responded to assist the first officer. He, too, apparently was unfamiliar with Dylan, Woolley said.
The officers asked Dylan for identification. The singer of such classics as “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” said that he didn’t have any ID with him, that he was just walking around looking at houses to pass some time before that night’s show.
The officers asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them back to the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, where the performers were staying. Once there, tour staff vouched for Dylan.
The officers thanked him for his cooperation.
“He couldn’t have been any nicer to them,” Woolley added.
August 15th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
And just how did their conduct differ in essence from that of that poor Yale (or Harvard, I forget the nuance) officer to who was called to a possble break-in? Not much, except that Mr Drlan is man enough to realise that 1) his conduct could be considered to be suspicious; and 2) that basic good manners – as opposed to a ‘do you know who I am’ or a simple ‘racist’ epithet – would go a long way to defusing the situation. Did the eminent Professor ever thank his neighbour for having been concerned enough about the safety of his property to call 911? Let alone the obvious fact that said eminent professor was not known by sight to his next-door neighbour.