General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Starbucks arrests: Who gets to decide whether youre a patron or a trespasser? [View all]EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)The police are there to protect and serve the store and its managers, not the individual patrons, even if they ARE citizens who pay their salaries.
If the manager says the men are trespassing and she wants them out NOW, the police have no choice but to order them out NOW and arrest them if they refuse to get out NOW. Because they protect and serve ONLY the interests of the store and its managers, it's not up to them - in fact, it would be WRONG of them - to make any effort to determine whether the manager's accusation was correct, if the men were actually trespassing or if anyone else in the place was engaging in the same illegal act without being subjected to similar treatment. And it would be CRAZY WRONG for the police to do anything to get them to leave other than ordering them to leave NOW or placing them under arrest if they don't leave NOW.
It's a police officer's JOB to try to keep the peace or resolve situations or make sure that citizens are not being harassed or that they aren't being used to carry out the whims of bigots.
Got that?