Originally Posted by bocastephen
A person can stand on public property and look at whatever he/she wants, as long as their actions do not harm or threaten another person. However, what does standing on the sidewalk at 1am have to do with stopping profiled motorists on the highway and searching their cars for no reason other than the 'appearance of suspicion'? What would it have to do with profiling people in airports? I think I missed the connection between our posts.
I think the key to why the connection was missed, is that you don't find it unusual or concerning that a person is standing in front of your home at 1am looking in your window. If you ever see someone looking in my window at 1am, please call the police. I would easily say if 90% of the people in this forum were to see this, they would be concerned and probably alarmed.
Let's say a police officer drives by your house and sees this guy, he stops and gets out to talk to him. The officer asks if he can search the guy and the guy consents to a search. The officer finds a sky mask, a gun and drugs. The guy goes to jail, and it is a completely legal search and arrest. This is the same scenario that is played out in the illegal, rights violating highway profiling. No rights are violated, and this would be the same as in the airport. The same rules apply.