Police cited 55 people for eating on San Francisco trains. Only nine were white

Police cited 55 people for eating on San Francisco trains. Only nine were white | Dark Hacker News

larnmar 6 years ago |

Without any data on what the demographics of people who eat on the BART are, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of bias (but a lack of evidence certainly doesn’t stop anyone in the article).

Noumenon72 6 years ago | |

Other frequently seen risk factors are people who are inclined to belligerence when requested to stop eating on the BART, and people who are doing illegal things that don't leave evidence but also eating on the BART, making it easier to cite them for eating.

hellllllllooo 6 years ago | | |

So your claim is despite the black ridership being 10%, black people are more likely to be beligerant or do something else that is somehow hidden but illegal so citing for eating is justified?

You're really bending over backwards to give Bart police a pass.

Noumenon72 6 years ago | | |

That is my impression from reading many other anecdotes from police describing their daily work, as well as various videos and true cop shows. You don't necessarily even have to attribute it to race; just that a demographic of employed programmers is going to have better impulse control, protective social status, habits of deference to cops, and overall good behavior than a demographic of low-income "frequent fliers" who have had many negative interactions with the police before. Being in that second demographic is what causes the disproportionate citations. Not in the choices made by the police.

hellllllllooo 6 years ago | | |

Did you watch the video that the article cites? Please do. It's what sparked this study of the statistics and the police behavior in it is completely unreasonable. What you're saying doesn't align at all with what was recorded. He could easily be an "employed programmer", your biases are showing. A lot of programmers I know would respond similarly.

> San Francisco transit boss apologizes to rider detained over a sandwich

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/11/san-francisc...

Noumenon72 6 years ago | | |

I have watched the video now (I skimmed because I hate confrontation, which is part of why I take the cops' side when people are belligerent).

This guy was not doing anything illegal that doesn't leave evidence, but he does perfectly match my description of "people who are inclined to belligerence when requested to stop eating on the BART". Employed programmers and black people who do that are likely arrested at nearly the same rates.

I'm totally fine if you tell me "It's racist that cops only ever ask black people to stop eating on the BART." Or "It's systemically racist to apply the same rules to people who get a lunch hour at their jobs and people who don't." I'm just saying that arresting 84% blacks is not necessarily racist _by the cops_, because every one of those 46 arrests may well have a video like this one, and this guy deserved it.

Noumenon72 6 years ago | | |

hellllllllooo 6 years ago | | |

> San Francisco transit boss apologizes to rider detained over a sandwich

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/11/san-francisc...

Noumenon72 6 years ago | | |

I have watched the video now (I skimmed because I hate confrontation, which is part of why I take the cops' side when people are belligerent).

hellllllllooo 6 years ago | | |

> I'm just saying that arresting 84% blacks is not necessarily racist _by the cops_, because every one of those 46 arrests may well have a video like this one, and this guy deserved it.

Deserves to be detained for eating a sandwich? Beligerant for expressing how stupid that is? The police department apologized for this so even they don't agree with you. I think we're done here. Good luck.

Noumenon72 6 years ago | | |

The entire system of police does not work if you are allowed to just not do what the police tell you to because you think it is stupid. You can do that democratically, but not individually. Just like companies allow you to tell your boss they are being stupid, but not to stand up and say so at the employee meeting. The authority hierarchy is more important than the actual issue.

I should say that purposely getting arrested on video to highlight the stupidity of the sandwich thing is a good tactic for getting it changed. I support the guy's actions if that was his intent.