Cops make for a bad day.

So, everyone knows that an encounter with the police is a good day killer. It's not that the officers are bad people (at least no worse than other professions). It's just their job to be there when bad things happen. It's their job to be suspicious. It's their job to put pressure on those they are suspicious of. Thus, talking to them in their official capacity is usually unpleasant.

One night, as a college freshman, I hung out with a new set of friends. It was late at night (because it's freshman year!), and we were messing around on the grounds. Someone touched a bike that was unlocked, with the idea of moving it to confuse the owner in the morning. A campus "honor guard" (don't ask, it's stupid that they exist), saw us, and called the cops. Obviously they accused us of wanting to steal the bike. The issue was somewhat quickly resolved (after a frisking, and a separate interrogation for everyone). At the end, one particularly large cop accused me of stealing computers from homes in the neighborhood. At first I thought he was joking. But after I laughed, and he didn't laugh, I realized he was serious. I stammered. I had no idea what he was talking about. But because they had access to my school records(which seems hinky) they knew I had a computer related major, and thought they'd take a stab in the dark. In the end they accepted that I had nothing to do with it. That was a bad night(but a good story).

So, even if you do nothing wrong, but just look suspicious, or spend a night with a group that looks suspicious, Cops make for a bad night. For this reason, law officers are restricted from prying into our lives. They must have probable cause in order to detain, search or arrest us. They need "reasonable suspicion" in order to question us. Otherwise we are free to leave at any time. This is one reason the new law in Arizona is troubling. What is reasonable for suspecting a person is an illegal alien? How should a police officer decide that they should ask for proof of legal residency? There are certain street corners where day laborers will wait for work. Illegal immigrants tend to be day workers. Thus hanging out on certain street corners makes it more likely to be an illegal immigrant, right? But that also means, for legal immigrants and citizens, being a day laborer is probable cause for a policeman to stop and ask for papers. Remember my story above, about how it sucks to deal with police? Because they're trained, even if you are legal, to see if you are hiding things. Even after they've dealt with the initial issue, their job requires them to make sure they haven't missed anything. There is no way to cut the issue that makes it possible for policemen to look at a person and say, I have a reasonable suspicion that that person is an illegal immigrant.

A lot of people are saying the law is racist. The law itself isn't racist, because law(at least on its face) is colorblind. Some say the police will apply it in a racist fashion. I'm going to give all the officers the benefit of the doubt, and say, they will make all possible effort to avoid using racial profiling in their execution of the law. The problem is that what is then the basis of suspicion on which they will apply this law? No cursory examination can possibly provide the necessary level of suspicion. Illegal immigrants don't act different. Only an investigation into the life of the person, their residence, work, and family, can provide it. Thus the only basis on which the law can be applied by an officer on his beat is by racial profiling.