Given "commander" Tsachas' obsession with fare evasion by black and hispanic citizens it would be interesting to understand the rationale he employs(ed) to create HIS policy. Since the "commander" and the Police department have to declined to comment on their tactics, we can only speculate as to their motivations.Given the statements that have been attributed to him by his subordinate officers, it would appear that Tsachas' behavior is indeed rooted in racist sentiment. Given the structural racism that the NYPD has been renowned for, his behavior appears to be consistent with departmental policy and procedure. The least the NYPD can do is transfer this guy to Staten Island where he would be a better fit....or Moscow, if they have a precinct there.
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How much money do the cops who are suing expect to win if their discrimination complaint goes their way?
Wouldn't it be easy to count the racial distribution of subway fare abusers? Just get one hour of security footage at, say, the 42nd street station and count the percentages by race of people who don't pay their fare.
That would shed light rather than heat on the subject.
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Adrien Schoolcraft and Eric Garner, that’s all you need to know when you look at the legacy of the NYPD over the last 10 years.
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There's rather more, actually.
Cops called to domestic disputes and getting shot, cops performing life-saving actions, cops helping kids.
Our anger would be better off directed at the young men who prey on the elderly, the young, those who are female.
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Jumping the turnstiles in protest? No, these protesters state that the subway and bus systems should be free. When the NYPD makes arrests suddenly it becomes racist.
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I'm a black woman. The use of racial profiling and the targeting of black and Latinx people for arrest while ignoring the same conduct by other groups is unacceptable. But I don't like fare beaters and the illegal sale of food in the subway. Unless they have reasonable suspicion, officers should focus on crimes they see taking place.
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[Something happened to the comment I submitted this morning.]
I'm an African American woman. It is unacceptable for the police to racially profile people or make a priority the arrest of people of color over other groups.
But I don't like the practices of fare beating and illegally selling food in unhygienic circumstances. Police should focus on arresting people who are committing crimes in front of them. They shouldn't stop and frisk people unless they have a reasonable suspicion that an individual is a criminal.
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can't speak for the boroughs outside manhattan, but the nypd is absolutely needed in the subway system. every single day i see lots of riders jumping the turnstiles at 42d street and 34th street stations. it's not racist when 95% of the riders doing so are black and hispanic - they act as if the fare is for other people, not them. so tired of it. the subway is not free. they're not "showing the man", they're making it more expensive for everyone in the long run. we fare-paying riders should also not have to constantly navigate the homeless and mentally ill (and "entertainers") on our daily commute.
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@AC Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance announced with great fanfare that is office would no longer prosecute fare-evaders. If you see a lot of turnstile-jumpers in Manhattan, that's why.
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The subways have become an unsafe place. Regardless of the stats, incidents of harassment, threats of violence and minor assaults go unreported, to say nothing of turnstile jumping as a self-declared right. Blaz is not willing to change that, so I'm very happy that Cuomo has stepped up.
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I have never been stopped for any reason by NYPD or New York City Transit Police, but then I don't fit into the particular demographic they appear to be targeting -- however I have no doubt that a certain amount of racial targeting is involved when it comes to aggressive policing tactics.
Whether or not this is the legacy of "Stop and Frisk" is debatable, but the result is ultimately the same.
And yes, it is racist.
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How frequently do you jump the turnstiles? That might have an impact on why you haven’t been “profiled”.
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I keep holding out hope that it's not that people are getting worse in his they treat others (which would be terrible), but rather than people are not getting worse but more of a spotlight is being shone on it and that's why we're hearing more about it (which would mean talking about it is a positive step towards change).
The recent new info we're getting about both Giuliani and Bloomberg this last year have convinced me that this may have been who they were behind the scenes when they were Mayors, but were adept at covering up their bad sides. Maybe deBlasio is not that much worse than them after all, but the press is getting more access to info more quickly because of the net so we see who he is?
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@Freddie
I, for one, not only believe that people are treating each other worse, but that they are doing it with wild abandon and under the impression that they are entitled to do so.
Call me old-fashioned, but simple rules of conduct appear to have just gone out the window these days.
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Well, Freddie, when I was a kid we slept with our doors unlocked. It was only in the late 1960s that my mother would say to my dad, with a new note of urgency in her voice, "Did you remember to lock the door?"
Nor can I recall politicians as brazenly mendacious and corrupt as they are now. I could never have imagined a Donald Trump; Richard Nixon was a gentleman and scholar in comparison.
Must be nearing the end of one of Yeats's gyres. The center's not holding -- anywhere.
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@B. - I guess is that there already have been "Donald Trumps" running even back to the 1960s - there had to be something that preceded him that made his candidacy have a real chance of winning.
When Pres. Obama made a joke with projections at the gala dinner years back, a Trump candidacy seemed vaguely possible, but even as he and Melania took that escalator ride, how many of unguessed? (But to be honest, I don't understand national politics well enough to not be shocked how Joe Biden stayed a frontrunner beyond making a literal joke of his own apology to the women who objected to the touching - its one thing to stand firm and not apologize; but to apologize and then prove with a joke a say or two later that the apology meant nothing?)
And someone like Jeff Sessions, who appears more gentlemanly but even more destructive for the deceptiveness of that folksy surface, got in in his state, of course.
I’m a person of color and I’ve been bullied and harassed several times. I don’t feel safe in the subway or in the city as I used to be. Let’s continue on this path and the next mayor will be unfortunately another Giuliani:(
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I'm a white guy. I was stopped and frisked, my pockets were emptied, and my stuff was examined, physically and by swabbing, on at least three occasions by the cops in and around Penn Station. In each case I was dressed in a suit and carried a briefcase. The cops were polite and respectful.
And you know what? I didn't mind.
If this is the price we pay to root out crime and terrorism then so be it.
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@MIKEinNYC That is great for you, Mike. But cops need reasonable suspicion to make that's called a "Terry stop," named after a SCOTUS case. That's where they can pat you down for weapons. Probable cause to arrest grants them the ability to search basically your entire person as a "search incident to lawful arrest." Otherwise, it's an illegal stop and frisk!
So maybe don't take so much enjoyment in your next pat down...
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Myra: thank you for that LIRR story. A good read for a Monday morning!
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