Friend breaks up an attempted robbery!

[Capt. Charlie]

Profiling has always been a hot topic on TFL, and it does have its place if done properly.

Properly means usually basing your assessment on multiple characteristics, not just one. For example, a blue guy walking into a green guy neighborhood Stop-'n'-Rob, might be noticeable, but it's grounds for little else.

Same guy walks into the same store right at closing time, doesn't buy anything, and it appears that he looks down to avoid surviellance cameras. It's probably time to up your alert level a couple of notches.

Same situation, but the guy's also wearing a trenchcoat on a hot day in July . Now you've built a pretty good case for believing that this guy doesn't have your best interests at heart.

All that said, we went from threegun's specific situation to profiling, and that has become too centered on race. That, in turn, requires a review of TFL's Rule #5:

5. Topics and conduct that will not be tolerated:
Drive-by cut and paste posting
Puerile bickering
Political Advocacy posts, or any purely political topic. However, some very few exceptions may be made.
Conspiracy threads or posts
Posts or threads on Race, Religion, and Sexuality
The End Of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI), AKA: SHTF or Doomsday threads and Zombie threads
Knowingly and willfully advocating violation of a standing federal or state law (any state)
Violating our Copyrighted Material Policy

Even though the posters here have remained civil and respectful (and I do thank you for that ), it's probably time to put this one to bed, while it's still on the High Road.

Closed.