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Comment by walterbell | Hacker News Reader

Previously, https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/p...

> The Pasco Sheriff’s Office keeps a secret list of kids it thinks could “fall into a life of crime” based on factors like whether they’ve been abused or gotten a D or an F in school, according to the agency's internal intelligence manual. The Sheriff’s Office assembles the list by combining the rosters for most middle and high schools in the county with records so sensitive, they’re protected by state and federal law. Four hundred and twenty kids are on the list ... The Sheriff’s Office said it does not inform students or their parents if they’ve been added to its list of potential future criminals.

View on HN

Part of this police department's intelligence program was posted on HN[1] before. The body cam footage[2] from it is horrifying.

Here's a summary of the program and how the department feels about it and those they target[3]:

> The motivation of the program is more sinister than merely “fighting crime”: The Sheriff’s Office acknowledged that they want these “problem people” gone. Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco, the architect of the program, boasted that the goal was to predict which residents are likely to commit crimes and then “take them out.” In the words of a former Pasco County deputy, they were under orders to “[m]ake their lives miserable until they move or sue.”

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24363871

[2] https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/p...

[3] https://ij.org/case/pasco-predictive-policing/

> "they were under orders to “[m]ake their lives miserable until they move or sue."

Disgusting.

Awful. I read the GP comment about a list of at-risk kids and my first thought was outreach so that they grow with an appreciation of their community, the police, etc but the cops are instead intent on turning prospective criminals into actual criminals. Insane.

I think it's become obvious who the actual criminals are here.

Isn't this illegal? How is the student data making its way into the sheriff department's hands?

This reminds me of the 1990 film Pump Up The Volume [0] where the school's dean was creating dossiers on singled out students, which was eventually portrayed as a criminal act in the end.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_Up_the_Volume_(film)

[0.0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100436/

Most of the ways that police enforce their views on the population in the USA are technically illegal.

Only a small percentage of it has to do with actually enforcing the law. The majority of it is curbing behaviors that threaten the status quo.

> Most of the ways that police enforce their views on the population in the USA are technically illegal.

I'm not even referring to the police though, the school's administration is violating the student's rights AIUI.

> Most of the ways that police enforce their views on the population in the USA are technically illegal.

Whose views and what does it mean to “enforce views”? Are you talking about enforcing laws passed by the government or something else?

Most of the things that police in the US spend their time on has almost nothing to do with violations of the law.

That's the cover story, and it no longer holds up.

Police show up to close out trouble tickets, not to enforce laws.

I have written about this specifically:

https://sneak.berlin/20200628/the-problem-with-police-in-ame...

Your article doesn’t seem to have any stats. Can you back up the assertion that they are not spending their enforcing laws? You have a lot of handwaving about the history of police departments and pushback against like bodycams but nothing concrete.

The police in my area spend most of their time enforcing traffic laws, responding to domestic disturbances, etc. Murders are taken very seriously, regardless of who was murdered.

Based on my actual experience living with police in a boring suburbia, your article comes across as completely out of touch with reality due to no actual experience.

Have you considered that the reason there isn’t an explicit law that police have to respond to a given call is because there is immense political and therefore organizational pressure for them to do so? The county sheriff or the mayor would get voted out if that was a pattern in our local government and then police leaders would get fired.

Your anecdote is not data. Please present data to back up your argument.

I’m replying to a German pontificating on how US police work because of a history article he/she read and some national news. My anecdote is indeed an anecdote but it’s proof that his/her generalization is bullshit.

Do you have stats to back up your statements regarding your area?

“Black people are criminals” “Undocumented immigrants are dangerous” “Rich white men can’t commit crimes”

And you think those are actual views of black police officers? Or do you think maybe something more systemic is going on?

> Most of the ways

> a small percentage

What's your source for this? I'm very interested to see it, because this is an issue that I've been following for a few years and I haven't yet seen any data that supports this claim.

Forget it Pengaru, it's Floridatown.

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