Comments on: Why I rock pink

By: Jansen

Jansen — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:39:45 +0000

These alerts are the UMN equivalent of the terrorism colors. ORANGE – be afraid!

Actually, last year we had a series of robberies and assaults on the West Bank. One victim was left partially blind. Of course the suspects had “African Accents.”

And there was that homicide by stadium village…

The only time I remember hearing about someone getting caught was the bike groper who terrorized campus last year: http://www.no634.com/pop-law/bike-groper-caught/

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:55:18 +0000

I’m just curious as to what these alerts are supposed to accomplish. We get these alerts, making everyone jittery (especially around young black males because of the alerts…not good), but we NEVER hear if anyone was caught in association to these crimes. I know at least two folks who have been mugged and, right now, the folks that mugged them have not been caught. Plus, with the previous homeless issue you talked about, there seems to be no police presence around the school that I have been able to determine (and don’t get me started on the security guys). The law school is located in an odd area (right next to downtown), though most of these crimes seem to be central to Dinkytown. But I can’t see that anything (and really don’t know what should be done) is done to prevent the crimes to begin with. I hate the way I feel after getting these things. I also tend to wonder if they have a better description (surely, CSI is not completely misleading, what with the talented sketch-artists), but they choose to give general information that is completely useless.

By: Jansen

Jansen — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:49:55 +0000

Well the unique problem at UMinnesota is that there is a large Somali community near campus and the suspects tend to have “African accents” (which in this city is PC for Somali) so while I’d like to think most people can not make the assumption that the alerts don’t represent blacks generically, it’s easier to make that assumption when it’s about an easily identifiable immigrant group.

By: Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:35:37 +0000

Part of the issue with these terrible descriptions is that criminals intentionally dress in a manner that is hard to identify. When I got robbed, (full disclosure: all three men were black; don’t know if it matters, I just threw it out there in case it does) it was hard to in the split second I had to find identifying features about the men. One had a gold fur trim on his coat and the other had a doorag with a Yankee logo on it. I never got a good look at the other guy. I was fortunate that they didn’t take my cell phone and after calling 911, the cops miraculously caught them.

From the community standpoint, these terrible descriptions are counterproductive measures ways for preventing racial profiling. As a victim though, I would have been pissed if the cops didn’t do everything they could to catch the guys. From my perspective, it would have been “oh just another college kid crime; we have better things to spend our resources on.” So the e-mail provides satisfactions for the victim that the cops did everything they could.

So which interest should prevail: the victim’s interest for justice or the community’s interest not to encourage racial profiling? I side the victim’s interest. Sure the cops have in most cases stumbled across a stone-cold who-done-it. But that e-mail does provide a chance, however minuscule it is, that someone knows some info and will come forward. Plus, I think the racial profiling issue can be thwarted other ways through public education about crime and racial profiling. The negative costs (racial profiling) of these alerts are only negative if people make the illogical jump that this sample of alerts represents all black people. Get people to stop making the logical leap and the problem these alerts pose are alleviated.