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A Black locksmith documented his experience working in a white neighbourhood and dealing with aggressive police officers in a pair of Tik Tok videos that have been widely viewed on social media.
The locksmith was contracted to switch out the locks on a house in a predominantly white neighbourhood, and quickly gained the attention of local police officers.
The videos were filmed from the perspective of the locksmith, and shows him explaining the situation to a group of three police officers.
The officers seem sceptical of the man’s explanation and continue pressing him for information. One of the officers appears to be circling the situation from a distance while holding an assault rifle in his hands.
During the discussion, the officers tell the locksmith to quit filming their conversation.
“We’re here for a complaint, that’s all,” the officer holding the assault rifle said.
The other two officers also had their hands readied on their pistols as though the locksmiths posed a potential threat.
The house the men are working at appears to be empty, with a realtor sign posted in the front yard.
A second video continued to capture the conversation between the locksmiths and the police.
“They’re not used to Black people,” one of the locksmiths says in the video.
It’s unclear if the police tried to contact the realtor to confirm the locksmith’s contract.
It is also unclear who originally called the police on the locksmiths, though presumably it was a neighbour who spotted the men working on the door’s locks.
White people calling or threatening to call the police on Black people who have committed no crimes has become a subject of concern, even among lawmakers.
Following the much publicised 2020 encounter in which a white woman called the police on a Black birdwatcher in New York City, several lawmakers proposed legislation that would criminalise calling the police on innocent Black people if bias is involved in the call.
In 2020, New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz proposed an addition to a 2018 bill that would enhance the charge of fabricating a criminal report if it is found that someone’s bias was at the core of their call.
New Jersey, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington have also considered bills that would criminalise calling the police when crimes haven’t occurred, particularly incases that “unlawfully discriminate” or if they target “protected classes”.
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