Was it ok for the cop to ask this or was it racist?

Question

so about a week ago..a big group of ppl went camping and we got introuble for drinking too late..and the sheriff went up to one of the ppl we were with and said..what is your nationality..he answered hispanic..and he said sit down..asked him alll his info..social security number etc..

however..another guy who was white was also getting a ticket..by the same sheriff..and didnt ask him any such questions..and just gave him the ticket..

what is your opinion about it..racist or not?

why would he need to know his nationality for a ticket? is that even relevant??

Answer 1

If the guy said he was hispanic when, supposedly, he is an American,

maybe the cop couldn't determine how to describe him in his report.

The is no nationality called Hispanic.

The guys answer should have been " American."

The cop's report has to list whether the alleged offender is White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or Non white hispanic.

The cop has every right to ask.

Answer 2

Well on the ticket the cop must tell the offenders race. Im sure the cop was just making sure that he had the correct race.

Answer 3

to soda pop!

immigrants are everywere unless ur family background is 100 form us! wich is rare!

and to ur answer. maybe the sherrif see that the man looked like a diff nationality and the sherriff needed to know exactly wut he was because on the tikets the put weathe rur hispanic caucasion asian or other. some hispanics look midle easterners so the sherrif wanted to be sure wut he was

or maybe the sherrif was looking for someone and that man fell under the category of the peron they were looking for

Answer 4

because depending on what area of the country this happened in, the sheriff was checking to see if he was here legally or not.  No not raceist.  just doing his job.  

Answer 5

No, it's not relevant. They were getting the ticket regardless. Maybe he just couldn't tell what they were, lol.

Answer 6

Its not racist. He might be an illegal. I'm sure he asked the white guy for his ID too.  

Answer 7

no, he did not know their race that was all

he did not insult them

Answer 8

no i don't think he is racist .  

Answer 9

is your friend aware that "hispanic" is not a nationality?  

Answer 10

RACIST!!!

Answer 11

I do not think it was racist.  Maybe if he would have only given the Hispanic guy the ticket then i would say yes. sometimes you can't tell what nationality a person is just by looking at them.  Its pretty easy if a person is white or black. But sometimes other nationalities are hard to tell.  For example, at the college i go to there is a woman who works in the Learning Resource Center.  People always assumed she was Hispanic because of the way she looked. Someone finally asked her and she was from Iran. The cop was probably just trying to make sure he was legal asking all the other info.  we have so many illegal immigrants these days

Answer 12

The officer was profiling because someone was brown, so the cop was checking to see it they were legal. The youth would consider it racist and the fading generations would not.  

Answer 13

No.

He may in fact have had other reasons for the line of questioning.

The more illegals that can be deported the better.

And oh-by-the-way; if you are trying to identify illegal aliens – hispanic is not a race. It isn’t even a nationality; it is no more than a ‘political’ label.

Answer 14

It sounds like he was a little racists yes. He could also be checking to make sure that he is legally allowed to be in the country.

Answer 15

Not.

Police reports include physical descriptions of the individuals involved.  if someone is Caucasion... it's generally pretty obvious.

If someone is brown skinned... well their are literally hundreds of different "ethnic groups" that the person might belong to.  The best way to find out which.... to simply ask so that he can accurately fill out his required paperwork.

Peace.

Answer 16

its not whether its racist or not, its because illegal immigrants from Mexico

Answer 17

they can ask if they want some counties have a goverment program ( i forget the name of it ) to hold and check on legal status..

Answer 18

Is that like when the D.C. Shooter is on a killing rampage and every "profiler" is appearing on every news show insisting that the shooter is an "angry, white, male loner"?

Answer 19

Cops have  NO business asking for Social Security number

Answer 20

Well I would say it is odd unless you are in a border state with Mexico. It might be valid if he was thinking maybe he could be an illegal

Answer 21

Not a smart thing to do while you're being busted. Incidentally, if he's asking nationality, then he isn't racist; bigoted, maybe, but not racist. Racism has to do with race, not nationality or ethnicity. Maybe you should stop the underage drinking and violation of curfew.

Answer 22

well there are a lot of illegal immigrants......

Answer 23

He was checking to see if he was illegal probably