You want to live in a country with an efficient police force that cares about the well-being of its citizens. What you do not want is for them to randomly enter your home uninvited, making you feel violated and dehumanized. But this is the situation a woman found herself in after her neighbors rang the police, and six officers arrived at her home. And how do we know what went down? Well, she decided to film the interaction and share it on TiKTok.
TikToker chiderahsunny shared a video of police officers standing in her doorway, and she can be heard politely asking them to leave. She then gets emotional as she informs the officers that the encounter is “so scary.” She continues, “This is extremely frightening, and this is my house … I can show you my visa. I am Canadian.” She also tells the officers that their behavior was “disgusting” because they had entered her room when she was naked in bed.
The entire clip is stressful to watch, and you can hear the emotion in the woman’s voice. She gave more context about the encounter in her TikTok caption, writing, “My German neighbors called the police on me because the lock part of my door is damaged as I locked myself out Tuesday and it has be removed to let me in. 6 officers stood as in shock after seeing Two white male officers enter my room unannounced as I laid naked in my bed. The indignation, the violation, the dehumanization. Germany is not a safe place for Black women.”
People react to the German police entering a foreign woman’s home
Some comments from fellow TikTok users acknowledge how uncomfortable this interaction would be. Reactions include: “I’m so proud of you for being brave enough to confront and record them,” and “i am so sorry this happened to you.. how do you feel after rn?” but others have been critical of TikToker chiderahsunny’s reaction to the police officers.
“Ppl telling me I should have stayed calm apathetic. Imagine a stranger entering your home at night when you are alone,” she wrote in response to the criticism. “Even if they are police they are strangers entering my home without my consent.”
“Why 6 policemen? Just let the woman talk with her,” someone shared. “Your reaction was valid. How’s they get in?” another TikToker wrote.
People have praised the officers for their reaction, though. They were incredibly calm, but they were also dismissive of her feelings (at least from what we can see in the clip). “In America, they would have shot you if you had freaked out like that,” a comment reads.
But let’s get real: Having six officers in the home was overkill, making the situation even more stressful for the woman involved. She is also in a foreign country, and you can clearly hear the distress and emotion she is going through, so telling her to “calm down” is not productive and definitely shows a lack of empathy.
Do you think she overreacted? Well, how would you feel with so many people in your home? Are you aware of her previous experiences with the police as a woman of color? Data has shown how “The imprisonment rate for African American women is 2x that of white women.”
