"Jordan S. Kushner" wrote:
> 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.
I suppose that much of my response to the post above is mostly culture
shock. I am amazed at how caviler Minnesotians are at violating
traffic laws. Mr. Kushner and others seem to believe that violating traffic
laws is a matter of personal choice. I've seen people here drive however
they like regardless of how rude of dangerous it is to other divers. I
personally believe that Minnesota has the worst drivers in the country
and the lack of enforcement contributes to the problem.
CODEFOR or not, I received a ticket for running a red light on a
bicycle in LA, with no polite explanation about a police enforcement program.
Weapons checks are routine in L.A. regardless of your skin color
(but are dependent on your income level). Tickets for jaywalking are
common. I have yet to meet a law enforcement officer in this state
that has anything close to what is the typical "attitude" problem of
the LAPD or the LA County Sheriffs. There you are lucky if the
officers only bend the law and not break it.
It seems that what people are complaining about here is strict
enforcement of the laws. If this is done by geographic area and crime
rate, rather than race, I have no problem with it.
Mike Atherton
Prospect Park
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