DangerousDanR

The people being detained are probably all juveniles, so while the officer may have used the term arrest when speaking with them they were probably being detained by Law Enforcement acting in the place of parents (in loco parentis). You and I may not like it, but the LEOs are acting within the law.

Also, New Jersey law is clear that juveniles under the age of 17 (I am guessing that many of these kids were) must wear a CPSC or Snell approved protective headgear while riding a bicycle. Not all of the kids were wearing a helmet.

So it is pretty clear that the LEOs had cause to stop these kids and determine if they were indeed under age 17. Additionally, they were riding in a clearly unsafe manner. Once again, the doctrine of in loco parentis allows LEOs to detain these kids for actions which they could not detain adults.

Beyond that, what I saw was a pretty clear example of what LEO and writer Joseph Wambaugh called "contempt of cop", along with behavior that rises to what I like to call "misdemeanor dumb ass."

For the most part, it looked to me like the LEOs did not rise and take the bait. So good for them. Also, the kids did stop for the LEOs, so good for them.

As far as the racial aspect, of course there are racist people. Always have been, always will be. The current political climate allows the POTUS to speak privately on a friendly basis with a known anti-Semitic bigot but howls like crazy if someone doesn't join in the Two Minute Hate against Caucasian men. So as soon as someone puts that out, I want to see evidence.

I have spent time with a fair number of LEOs. Some were colleagues when I was involved in fire fighting. Some were personal friends. I never heard any of them voice racial prejudice. And some were Bat <deleted> crazy, like the explosives disposal team guys I knew. Others had risen high on the food chain and were polished to a shine. And if you look a almost any Law Enforcement Agency today you will find a very high percentage of LEOs are Hispanic.

I was involved in a couple of incidents where a Hispanic was assaulted by a Caucasian male. In both of those cases the LEOs involved did their utmost to apprehend the suspect. That is their job, and for the most part they do it well. They are also generally people who want to see things being kept orderly. And these kids were not being orderly.

Further more, let's say that the LEOs do nothing after being informed that there are juveniles riding bicycles in an unsafe manner, and then let's say that one or more of the juveniles is killed in a collision with a motor vehicle. Have they exposed the city to liability for their inaction? What if the kids behavior results in injury to a third party. Are they going to have to answer for their inaction. They just don't want to deal with all that crap.