Richard McMartin wrote:
>
> > This statement is contradictory and full or problems. Jaywalking and
> > driving damaged vehicles are not "crimes," but mere legal violations.
>
> <...>
>
> > In addition, when stopping people for non-criminal violation in CODEFOR
> > neigbhorhoods, the police regularly engage in intrusions that are only
> > legally permitted for criminal violations. For example, in February,
> > 1998, a month after CODEFOR was started, I was stopped by Minneapolis'
> > finest for riding my bicylce through a red light at Franklin and Park
> > Avenues.
>
> So... Let me get this straight. If I drive my car through a red light, I
> have not committed a crime?
No. you have not committed a crime. you have committed a "petty
misdemeanor" - not legally considered a crime. that means, in relevant
part, you can be stopped and given a ticket, but not searched, detained
or arrested without any further cause. you are also confusing the
typical response cars and bicyclists. i assume we would agree that
police commonly give people tickets for driving cars through red
lights. while police are legally allowed to stop and give people
tickets for walking or bicyclihg through red lights, they rarely do. (i
admittedly ride my bike through red lights all only have been stopped in
inner city neighborhoods). the reality is that some violations are
just not considered important enough to enforce. the first problem is
that when people in certain communities are subject to enforcement for
every legal violation whereas people in other communities are not - that
is known as discrimination. the next problem is when a small violation
is used as an excuse or pretext to intrude on people's constitutionally
protected freedom, such as by searching or detaining them. During my
experience in being stoppped for riding my bicycle through a red light
on Franklin Avenue, i was not even given a ticket. the police openly
stated that they were only interested in checking to see if i have
drugs; they did not care that i rode my bicycle through a red light.
this is CODEFOR.
>
> Maybe none of the follow are not my rights but do I at least have the
> expectation that our society will protect my family and the everyone
> else in the neighborhood from some of the following:
>
> - Having guns aimed at your daughter while waiting for the bus near our
> home.
> - Having a guns fired at a drug house when your spouse walks down the
> alley near that house.
> - Having you neighbors 14 year old son murdered by his brother's
> unsatisfied drug customers. My family heard the last dying gasps of
> this youngster while his sister cried that they had shot her brother.
> - Having bullets pass through my living room 3 feet under my bed.
> - Having a guy continue urinating on my garage in front of my daughter
> and I as she drives up to the garage. After all he was just visiting
> friends down the alley that "were minding their own business".
> - Not being allowed to get to my garage because some of those friends
> "minding their own business" blocked the alley.
> - Having my house, squirrels, cats, various garage doors, pelted by
> pellet guns.
> - Having glass broken all over the alley by guys playing "baseball" with
> at aluminum bat and a couple of empty 12 packs of Budwieser bottles?
> - Having guys urinate on the sidewalk in front of and across the street
> while my family is on the front porch.
> - Having a peace making neighbor named Darell get stabbed and die in our
> alley just because he was trying to break up a fight over a gambling
> dispute. This happened while my daughter had a friend over. No wonder
> parents were reluctant to let there kids come over to our place to play.
what has any of this got to do with CODEFOR? the point is that it has
nothing to do with it, except to the extent that by spending inordinate
time on trivial violations, the the police spend less time on real
crime.
>
> And yes running a red light is a crime - no matter what the mode of
> transportation. It is just a minor crime known as a misdemenaor. Why do
> we have such laws as "don't run a red light"? It is an attempt to make
> the transportation system work by providing a common set of
> understandable rules that everyone can follow. It makes it less likely
> that we will accidentally kill each other.
again, you are wrong and missing the point. see above.
>
> The police need to be monitored and punished when they break the rules.
> There are ways for this to happen. YOU have to do some of the
> following:
> - attend Precinct Advisory Committee meetings.
> - Start a block club.
> - Talk to your SAFE officer and your CCP. Let them know when you have
> concerns about police or problems on your block.
> - Get to know the cops so that you become a human to them and they
> become humans to you. The police need to try to reach out and do this
> too.
> - Listen to the C4 meetings instead of protesting them. Bring up your
> concerns at those meetings.
Again, you are missing the whole point. it is not a matter of just the
police breaking the rules. it is a matter of the police carrying out
racist and unconstitutional policies that are designed by the mayor and
police chief. you are suggesting that i respond to a fundamentally
flawed system not only becoming part of that system, but also helping to
carry it out. no thanks. you are also suggesting that the entire
response to the unfairness is to a fundamentally flawed system is to
single out a few cops who might be blatantly breaking the rules, but
uphold the larger system that encourages is to keep happening. as for
going to C$ meetings, that obviously will not help to address
fundamental problems with CODEFOR itself, unless you have someone who
has the power to get rid of CODEFOR. I have in fact gone to meetings
where the police chief is present and expressed my views and seen others
express similar views. it is obviously clear that the chief has no
interest in considering such concerns. I do respect people who get
involved in any local activities in order to improve their community.
that does not invalidate the need to demand change to programs that are
completely unjust.
>
> --
> Rich McMartin
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Bryant Neighborhood of Minneapolis
> _______________________________________________
Jordan Kushner
Ward 8, Powderhorn
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