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Comment by sandworm101 | Hacker News Reader

Its just a card. The illegal part is how the nypd (and others) treat the cards.

It is less corrupt than other systems. Massachusetts has a system of special vip license plates to prevent influential people from being pulled over in the first place.

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The only reason the card (or any other signifier) would exist is to facilitate corruption.

And military family cards? ABA cards? How about cards from political parties? The corruption is in how the cops react to such things. (Back in the day, the Hells Angels also issued thankyou cards, although how cops would react is questionable.)

In what context does "who I'm related to" have a non-corrupt genuine bearing on whether I've broken a law and deserve citation for my (in)actions?

Being stopped by cops is about far more than a traffic violation. Traffic stops are the points at which police most often interact with the public. A cop has to decide how much work to put into a stop, how much non-traffic procedure to follow. Is the person dangerous? Do I need to call for backup before proceeding? Do I check to see if the car is stolen? Do I check for license and insurance? Do I check for warrants? Do I check for out-of-state warrants? Is there an immigration issue? Each extends the stop, which nobody wants. A card that proves a person is employed in certain jobs (military) or is friends with a local officer will cause most cops to save time by not running through all the checks they might otherwise run.

Two people go through border security, one just a random person and the other is carrying a military passport. One will breeze through security and the other might not.

You answered a question I didn't ask, which is "what biases are present in the system that exists today". Whether any of what you describe is either just or justified is still not discussed.

Why *should* a military passport (or my relative is a cop, or my government ID, or my Boy Scout badge, or my jacket patch for that band you love, or my sports jersey, or my bumper sticker) alter how someone evaluates whether I have broken a law or pose a security threat?

I'm not asking why fallible, busy, and sometimes immoral people behave as if it does. I'm asking why it should.

> military family cards? ABA cards? How about cards from political parties?

Does any of these allow someone to break the law with impunity?

Do any of these things allow you to commit a crime or civil infraction?

That is nonsense. The cards have no non-corrupt reasons to exist.

Yep.

There are lots of rotten police, and rotten police practices, in American. And many other nations.

Obsessing over these cards, because they're oh-so-visual and push people's buttons, is a "whack any white mole, which appears in this specific spot, if the sun is currently shining here" approach.

Maybe it feels good, and success is incredibly easy - the moles learn fast - but it won't do squat to reduce your yard's horrible mole problem.

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