“Most teens I know who drive feel that police are taking advantage of those who don’t know the law of the road. Especially when getting pulled over, teens feel that the police are giving them a hard time for fitting the description of certain stereotypes.
Is it true? Maybe cops would say there is no such thing. But teens say the reasons for stopping them aren’t always legit, such as having to get out of the car and be searched because of a simple traffic stop. As I talked to people, it seemed like those who get pulled over most are people who resemble gangsters, who fix up their cars and/or are minorities. They all have the perception that police are out to take advantage of youth because they just get bored. Could it be that police pull teens over only because of appearance?
At my school, there is one of those groups that fix up their cars and race on streets late at night. Most of these cars have a lot of illegal things in and on them in order to go faster or just to make the car look nice. How far the car is dropped, the different color blinkers, super chargers and sound systems are things that these teens often get pulled over for. These guys know that some of the things they have may be minor infractions, but they still don’t think they should be stressed for how low their car is dropped.
Another group that is constantly harassed is those who are or resemble gangsters. Whether the car is an Impala or Mercedes, gangsters often get pulled over for being bald or having that certain “gangster lean,” with music blasting out the back of the car. Getting pulled over is often more severe for “gangsters” because cops may feel more threatened by certain stereotypes, like baggy clothes that may conceal weapons. Usually this means that they are going to have to get out of the car and stand on the curb (sometimes for long periods of time) and watch the police search their car for drugs, guns or whatever their creative minds come up with. At the end of the search, the assumed gangsters sometimes get to have their picture taken so it can be placed in the police gang file.
Latinos and blacks get pulled over more
Many teens also said race is one of the biggest factors influencing how cops treat certain individuals. I talked to teens from three different ethnic backgrounds — black, Armenian and Latino. It seemed that the Latinos and blacks were pulled over most. A black teen told me she was pulled over because the police said, “This car fits the description of one that was reported stolen.” She said that she has been pulled over so many times that she now feels that the police are out to get all minority teens as well as other minorities.
“If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. If they pull you over for not using a turn signal, then all of a sudden you’re being asked to step out the car,” she said.
A friend of mine who is Latino got pulled over for supposedly having a burned-out tail light. After checking it out, there was nothing wrong with the light and the officer started to ask questions such as, “Where are you going? Are you in a gang?” My friend said all he could do was answer the questions so he could save himself any more trouble.
Another guy who’s Armenian has been in a situation where an officer stopped him for scraping the bottom of his dropped Camaro. He was told to “spread ’em” on the hood, then was told to go to the neighboring city to cause trouble, so that the cop wouldn’t have to waste his time to deal with it.
The one thing that every teen I talked to agreed on was they feel the cops pull teens over according to race. “If you’re white you have a lesser chance of getting pulled over,” one girl, who is black, told me. I don’t think all cops are discriminatory, but it’s still hard to believe they don’t make judgments based on appearance alone because stereotypes affect everyone.
It’s just unfair when teens are targeted and harassed because of how they choose to represent themselves. This makes us feel like outcasts when law enforcement, the same people who are supposed to protect us, always mistrust and take advantage of us.
This column on legal issues is made possible by the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation.”