![The controversial new policy has residents split on support [Image via Law enforcement of the Netherlands/ Wikimedia]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2018/1/24/660x290/b_502x220x82/the-controversial-new-policy-has-residents-split-on-support-image-via-wikimedia_1793815.jpg "The controversial new policy has residents split on support [Image via Law enforcement of the Netherlands/ Wikimedia]")
Police have gone to many lengths to target certain criminals and their organizations in any given major city. The new policy enacted in Rotterdam, Netherlands, however, is by far the most extreme measure taken.
Cops will be stopping people if they look too poor to be wearing the clothes that they have on. If they cannot provide proof that they purchased the clothes, the police will then take the clothes away.
That is correct. The police will take clothes away from poor people because they didn't purchase the clothes themselves.
“We're going to undress them on the street.” — Rotterdam police chief Frank Paauw in reference to a new pilot program to confiscate expensive clothing and jewelry from young people, particularly men, who “look poor.“https://t.co/mTY5B8x0oW
— Kat Murti (@KatMurti) January 21, 2018
While the authorities claim that this measure is meant to go after criminal gangs, it is impossible to think that there won't at the very least be people who are wrongfully targeted.
Rotterdam police. Last year they were taking warm coats from the homeless.
— evilrooster (@evilrooster) January 24, 2018
Let's not forget that this central European country gets pretty cold during the winter. How anyone can be on board with literally taking the shirt off someone's back during the winter is downright inhumane.
Surprisingly, residents are a near 50-50 split in support of the new policy. Many feel that the criminal youths who are flashing expensive clothing while being unemployed is an affront to the community. Just as many people feel though that this policy is entirely unenforceable as it will only lead to racial profiling.
This would never happen in the U.S.
In the United States, some cities have tried to adopt somewhat similar measures before, but there are stark differences to this Dutch policy.
In Alabama, community residents were fed up with young mean who wore their pants low. Some towns enacted fines that could be given out to those who were seen in public with their pants falling off.
The main complaint was that it was indecent exposure. It wasn't so much what the kids were wearing, but rather how they were wearing (or not wearing) their pants.
People wanted them to pull their pants up, not take them away.
Just the mere image of a police officer taking clothing away from a poor person would be enough to cause a riot in an American city.
What about goodwill?
There is a real chance a policy like this could greatly harm the ability for the community to take care of their less fortunate.
Poor or homeless people often are seen wearing coats and clothing that they could not afford. They are given these items because people feel a general need to look out for one another.
People donate these items because they have no more use for them and want to give them to someone in need.
Having a cop come in and take those donations away might spurn people from donating in the future. It is the slipperiest of slopes as this is basically saying it is illegal to be poor.
