DUI/DWI /dwh/dwp

[Rick H Kennerly]

|o|
|o| > Then there are the insulting DW's
|o| > DWH= Driving While Hispanic
|o| > DWP= Driving While Polish
|o|
|o| Are these really current and really insulting?  DWB 'driving
|o| while black'
|o| is a phrase used by African-Americans and supporters to criticize racial
|o| profiling.  I'm not quite sure what sense the terms above would make,
|o| unless they are related to jokes taking DW in a very different direction
|o| from the DWB term.
|o|

Spent the years 76-86 policing down in San Antonio, and it was a common
accusation Black drivers would hurl at the police back then, " What'd you
stop me for...Driving While Black? That a crime in this state, too?"

Most often whenever I'd hear that phrase, it was used by the subject of the
stop.  The pedestrian version was WWB, walking while Black.  There was a
similar Hispanic complaint that varied a bit, DWS (spic) or DWM (Mexican).

Of course, traffic tickets (outside of traffic enforcement efforts--like
radar traps) are really just the legal fig leaf most cops use to see who's
in the car and what they're up to, just in case they turn up something that
ends up in court.  In the above situation, the driver probably thinks that
the ticket he's getting for "No White Light Over License Plate" is pretty
much the equivalent of Driving While Black.

On the police side of the jargon, this incident would usually be described
as a "felony _______ stop" (felony plate light stop, felony white light
showing to the rear, etc.),  which roughly translates to the car didn't
belong in the area, there's something I don't like about the occupants, the
license plate was out, and I had my weapon ready when I approached the car.

rhk