As a public defender, I represented literally hundreds of Black men & women accused of doing this. Most literally couldn’t afford $2.75 subway fare. Difference between eating/not. Arrested, caged, forced to plea to the crime of “theft of services.” But when you’re white & proud:
https://twitter.com/ronfilipkowski/status/1462186442403233793
This year, NYC hired *500 more subway cops.* There were already 4000 NYPD in subway. $245 million/yr. They mostly target Black people for jumping the turnstile & attack. Fail to prevent crime. Instead of investing in free/affordable public transportation. gothamist.com/news/500-more-…
This is what subway policing normally looks like. NYPD surround woman selling churros. Crying. Telling her she stops or get arrested. Trying to talk to them in Spanish. Rolling their eyes. Lead out in cuffs. Cart taken away. This is police violence.
This is what policing on subway normally looks like. They exact violence & mayhem on the subways. Weeks ago, maskless NYPD cops pushed a man out of the subway after he asked them to wear masks. One of so many examples.
This is what policing on the subway normally looks like. Arresting, attacking, grabbing, & punching a man without a home. From May 2021:
This is what you get when you view public health & safety only through a carceral lens: An army of an cops, arrest & cuffs, fingerprints & cages because a single young Black man couldn’t afford $2.75 for a subway ride. What if we: Paid his fare?
https://twitter.com/davidgeorge265/status/1185663095932362752?s=21
“Williams spent countless nights over 2 decades sleeping on the subway. Left him w/ a stack of $50 tickets he has no way to pay off.” We will pay NYPD $494 million in 2020 to police transit instead of investing in affordable housing. nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-mt…
I count 5 NYPD grabbing, pushing, & cuffing this man for not obeying social distancing rules because it’s impossible on the Subway platform.
“Officers were pointing guns into the subway. Some yelled in horror as they squeezed together on either end of the car. Adrian kept his hands in the air & asked officers whether he should stay in the seat or lie on the floor.“Call my mom,” He told someone. washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10…
This is what policing on the subway ordinarily looks like. In the height of the pandemic. Arrested for moving between subway cars.
https://twitter.com/scotthech/status/1239410067549696004
Want to know more about why having a militarized, massive police force on the subway is a horrible idea? Read the NYT demolishing the plan we now see causing havoc & violence on the subway. Wish we had listened. A thread also here if fact versus fiction.
https://twitter.com/scotthech/status/1208471866278629377?s=21
Policing in NYC, like policing around the country, is mostly arresting people for things that shouldn't be crimes at all -- jumping the subway turnstile, drug possession & sale, petit theft/stealing to survive, trespass, mental health issues, poverty, houselessness.
We invest billions literally to hurt people more, exacerbate the underlying public and individual health issues that lead them to take necessary actions that get them arrested & processed instead of addressing the root causes themselves.
Poverty alleviation, quality affordable housing, education, infrastructure, jobs and employment, substance use and mental health programming are endemically underfunded. Funding them instead of police would actually lead to safety and health.
As always I’m not calling for greater harshness. Never a good idea to “level down.” Bc greater harshness will only be disproportionately exacted against Black & brown people only living in certain neighborhoods. Less policing. More health. For all.
This from another public defender.
https://twitter.com/msolurin/status/1462504619867881472
“Decades worth of data proves that, despite billion-dollar budgets, police do not prevent & are spectacularly bad at solving crime.” This should be a disclaimer in any story where a reporter decides to cite a police source or writes about crime.
https://twitter.com/pplscitycouncil/status/1459280380305960960
While I have your attention (thank you) I want to share some critical additional readings for you. Starting with this one from my colleague Alec Karakatsanis, head of Civil Rights Corps, on some of the most common police talking points & how to respond:
https://twitter.com/equalityalec/status/1422949466986921991?s=21
I wrote recently about how media & even very well-intentioned journalists enable the policing status quo to continue. I critiqued 2 reports from NPR & NY Times & offered a roadmap for journalists on how to do better journalism on crime & punishment. thenation.com/article/societ…
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