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Comment by gameshot911 | Hacker News Reader

I actually see a silver lining in this story. The worst thing an officer of the was able to do was inconvenience you for a day. Compare that to pretty much another other time in recorded history, and indeed still many places today, and you could have been locked up for far longer for pissing off someone in an authority position.

Now obviously this is a ridiculous situation and the officer was on a powertrip, but you did break the law and technically she was within her privileges to bring you down to holding. Still, the fact that you encountered pretty much the worst scenario possible and were only held up for a few hours from start to finish is, to me, a sign that the system is working pretty damn well.

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> The worst thing an officer of the was able to do was inconvenience you for a day.

Wrong.

Job application. Have you ever been arrested? No job.

Mortgage application. Have you ever been arrested? No mortgage. No house.

Rental application. Have you ever been arrested? No apartment.

These are just a few places you will have the door slammed in your face. Now, the OP was lucky, because the matter was dismissed, the arrest record evaporates. If he was convicted of even the most minor criminal offense because the judge was having a bad day too, his life is now fucked.

Isn't the wording 'convicted of a crime' rather than 'arrested'... you could be arrested, and then let go without being charged or convicted of anything.

It depends. The Global Entry program for instance cares about arrests, not convictions. Work background checks will turn up arrests as well.

How is that legal ? As a European, I am utterly puzzled.

It's usually "convicted of a felony or alcohol related offense". Being arrested usually has no negative impact on your job prospects unless you are also charged and convicted (of a felony).

Arrest records do come up in the system when a background check is run as I can vouch for personally. They also come up (in Colorado) with the initially charged crime whether or not the charge was changed or dismissed. This has never hampered my ability to obtain employment, loan, or a lease.

I have filled out job applications that ask if you have ever been arrested, specifically clarifying "whether or not convicted".

Getting involved with "the system" in any way, even if you're not guilty, appears to be a red flag for some employers.

In New York City, landlords will run background checks that check if you've been arrested or appeared in housing court, but not whether or not you were convicted (or even charged!) in the arrests, and not whether you won or lost the housing court case (or even whether you were the plaintiff or defendant).

It's incredibly pro-landlord, but because there's a shortage of housing supply, they can get away with it.

Only source I can remember for this offhand is behind a paywall, but I used to work in drug policy, so this is something I've witnessed many times: http://bklynr.com/arrested-developments/

It's in everyone's interest for criminals to learn from their mistakes and become functioning members of society. How could they conceivably do so if they're eternally denied education, employment, or even shelter on the basis of their past deeds?

NB, this is argument applies even if you're trying to make the argument to a very pro-law-enforcement person who accepts the premises that only guilty people need to worry about the police and that the laws are perfect so everything that is a crime ought to be one.

I wouldn't want to work for a company that would slam the door in my face because I was arrested for a petty offence like the one mentioned. There are plenty of companies out there that will treat me like a human being.

highly skilled worker problems

>The worst thing an officer of the was able to do was inconvenience you for a day.

The worst thing that officer could have done to that person for that day, rather. A different officer, different victim, different judge on a different day? Could have been a lot worse. It often takes a couple of days just to see a judge.

>encountered pretty much the worst scenario possible

No.

That was not the worst thing she could have done.

The female officer could easily have beaten or killed this person and would never see justice. Don't even bother trying to convince me otherwise.

It's a common police tactic to arrest somebody Friday night on bogus charges so they have to sit in prison all weekend to see a judge on Monday. Cops here would round up anybody unsightly like the homeless, protesters or people they thought would protest before some big weekend or Friday night event, just to keep them off the streets until it was over. They did this until false arrest laws came in where you could sue the police but before that there were dragnets every weekend.

Now cops just hand out tickets for every petty violation they can to the homeless since they know they can't pay, and ticket protesters for jaywalking or some other BS, and when a major media covered event comes through they now have a legit reason to round them all up.

Cops can also detain you longer, like this guy who was kept 24hrs in a psych eval, even though he had already spent hours in jail.

It's telling that you're comparing America in 2010+ to bad times in the past and developing and undeveloped countries.

Surely America should be compared with Developed (1st world) countries if it's to be considered one...

That things are worse in other times or places isn't much of a silver lining. More of a description of yet further human on human bullshit.

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