Thread by @objkshn

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed You all should be proud. As you pointed out, change requires police to admit there is a problem. They aren't there yet. This quote deserves push back. 1/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed Black persons are over-represented in homeless population more than their representation in both general population and of those in poverty. This disparity more than suggests homelessness is a RESULT of systemic racism by a variety of social institutions including police. 2/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed So for police to target homeless with unconstitutional ordinances, maintain databases on them, enter their license plates in license plate readers so their vehicles can be targeted for ticketing then towed, putting them on the streets in first place and then claim ... 3/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed ... then claim that because they are targeting HOMELESS persons and it just so happens that more homeless are Black, police don't have to admit they have a racism problem. Sick. 4/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed After police practices put these persons into homelessness, they then think targeting homeless is somehow race-neutral. Not. New recruits start off their police career learning how to dehumanize people they arrest by practicing on homeless. 5/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed Police use a collection of unconstitutional ordinances to force homeless persons, majority minority, to jump when they snap and move though they have no where to go with the threat of arrest if they don't do so. These are tools of harassment, pure and simple. 6/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed So decisions at the administrative level to enforce these unconstitutional ordinances in this fashion are decisions to target minorities. How many police and which police to assign to this unit are also administrative decisions leading to systemically racially unjust outcomes. 7/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed Then, this population is arrested, has its property discarded routinely including tickets and court paperwork they need to attend and take care of their police ticketing, is directed to appear 12 miles away instead of the courthouse a few blocks away. 8/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed They are charged with infractions for which they do not get a court appointed attorney and they will have to argue complex issues of constitutional law on their own against a trained officer. 9./

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed Then these tickets go to Clairemont Mesa courthouse where, in the last 28 years at least, they've never had any Black Commissioners. There, persons of privilege appointed by Judges hold these persons to impossible standards and find them guilty. 10/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed Every decision point, from administrative decision to assign officers and enforce unconstitutional laws, to the obsene way these are tried without counsel, to then the imposition of a fine without regard to ability to pay is SYSTEMIC RACISM. 11/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed And the police will quickly testify how they were only responding to complaints. This was reactive, not proactive policing they will claim. But yet they have an app - the Get it Done App, that allows people to report homeless people like they are a pothole needing repair. 12/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed And they maintain a database of all their contacts with the population. Innocent contacts. So later they can use all those contacts against them and prove they are homeless, as the unwritten element inherent in all quality of life offenses is proof of homelessness. 13/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed These are crimes for which any one of us could be arrested for committing as they are so broadly written. Evidence of trash, or food and water in a vehicle, is evidence that can be used to conclude one is guilty of vehicle habitation. 14/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed So when they TARGET homeless people for vehicle habitation police KNOW they are targeting more minorities than they are white people. It's a safe target. The wealthy White people in San Diego want them moved out of their eyesight and police eager to comply. 15/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed And when White people call the police to report an unhoused person is in their view and they would like them removed, police should ask "what crime do you see them committing? None? Call back when you observe a crime." 16/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed Police enforcement of homeless in San Diego increases, . . . increases . . . during the rain. That's because when they put their tents up to protect them from rain, they are more visible and more White people call the police. 17/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed And instead of saying to the people calling, "Its okay. They are poor and protecting themselves from the rain. No crime is being committed. They are trying to survive." instead of saying that, they say, "Okay, we'll go chase them out into the rain for you." Sick. 18/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed Everything about the criminal enforcement of homeless population is racially motivated and for this and many other reasons, it should be stopped immediately. 19/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed Police shouldn't get a pass to say that the racial profiling statistics get skewed due to the targeting of homeless persons. The homeless are being targeted for enforcement as they are BECAUSE they are majority minority. PERIOD. 20/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed One last note. He also mentioned "criminal activity," as in BOLO (be on lookout) dispatches that police are just following up on, however, when they get BOLO for White persons they don't pull over every White driver. Same can't be said for BOLO for Black or Hispanic persons. 21/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed There are police officers whose job it is to investigate HISPANIC gang activity. And those whose job it is to investigate BLACK gang activity. Haven't run across any police officer assigned to investigate solely WHITE gang activity. 22/

@SDUTmcdonald @LAWinkley @LaurynSchroed If you assign police to look only at certain races to find criminals, you're gonna get racial disparities. Police shouldn't get a pass at claiming those don't count. I have nothing further. 23/