• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Police ask man to define his ethnicity.

fantome profane

Anti-Woke = Anti-Justice
Premium Member


I just have to ask, does this happen often I’m the UK? Or anywhere? Is this really legal?

What would you do if asked this question?
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Id tell him the truth. It's the officers problem if he or she has any issues over it.

I guess it all depends on context. Sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes not.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member


I just have to ask, does this happen often I’m the UK? Or anywhere? Is this really legal?

What would you do if asked this question?
It's legal to ask, though you don't have to answer. The police will probably want to record it in order to maintain statistics in case of challenge about whether they may be targeting people based on ethnicity.

In this video, I notice the police are calm, non-threatening and polite, whereas the person filming is being stroppy, aggressive and difficult.
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member


I just have to ask, does this happen often I’m the UK? Or anywhere? Is this really legal?

What would you do if asked this question?
I think it’s legal where I live. Though I doubt you’d receive many kind responses to such a question. I’d probably be quite offended. Like it’s none of your business copper!
 

fantome profane

Anti-Woke = Anti-Justice
Premium Member
It's legal to ask, though you don't have to answer. The police will probably want to record it in order to maintain statistics in case of challenge about whether they may be targeting people based on ethnicity.

In this video, I notice the police are calm, non-threatening and polite, whereas the person filming is being stroppy, aggressive and difficult.
Compared to how I would react to that question, he was quite reserved.

Sometimes the police can be very calm and polite while they violate civil rights.
 

fantome profane

Anti-Woke = Anti-Justice
Premium Member
Id tell him the truth. It's the officers problem if he or she has any issues over it.

I guess it all depends on context. Sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes not.
My advice for what it is worth, never answer any question a police officer asks you. Don’t tell them your name, don’t tell them what you are doing, don’t tell them what colour the sky is, It never helps you.
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Canada. We have the right to remain silent. Exercising that right is not obstruction.

They have similar rights in the US, the UK, Australia and probably every other democracy you can name.

Yup, so in Australia there are some questions you need to answer, but that basically comes down to name and address (and even then, not in every circumstance).

And if you lend a vehicle to someone, you also need to provide their name and address. That's about it.

I wouldn't think saying nothing is always the easiest path to avoiding trouble, but it's also true that volunteering any information to police is unlikely to help you.
 

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
Yup, so in Australia there are some questions you need to answer, but that basically comes down to name and address (and even then, not in every circumstance).

And if you lend a vehicle to someone, you also need to provide their name and address. That's about it.

I wouldn't think saying nothing is always the easiest path to avoiding trouble, but it's also true that volunteering any information to police is unlikely to help you.

The officer says "we've identified you from the description" so he's obviously following a line of enquiry. If I'd reported something to the police and the resulting response was "we identified someone from your description, but he wouldn't answer questions so that's the end of the matter" I would not be very impressed.

As I said, without more context, he seems to me to be doing his job.
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
The officer says "we've identified you from the description" so he's obviously following a line of enquiry. If I'd reported something to the police and the resulting response was "we identified someone from your description, but he wouldn't answer questions so that's the end of the matter" I would not be very impressed.

As I said, without more context, he seems to me to be doing his job.

I'm not really speaking to this particular incident, to be honest. Just responding to the part about rights in Australia.

I have very mixed thoughts about the police. I don't mean that to sound negative, my thoughts are literally quite mixed on them.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
The question is why didn't they arrest him? We can all see the evidence. Videoing in vertical mode is a felony! . . . What? It isn't? Well it should be:mad:
 

HonestJoe

Well-Known Member
I just have to ask, does this happen often I’m the UK? Or anywhere? Is this really legal?

What would you do if asked this question?
Why the hell wouldn't it be legal for a police officer to ask a basic question? He even explains in the video why he asked it (indeed, is probably required to ask rather than just assuming). Are you really that desperate to try to spin a negative story about the police?
 
Top