In a truly shocking development, a study by the advocacy group Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP) found that 92 percent of arrests for fare-hopping were of people of color in 2015.
Using stats straight from the New York State of Criminal Justice Services, they found that 26,678 of those arrested on charges for the most common misdemeanor were Black, Latino, or Asian, compared to 2,291 whites.
Additionally, PROP found that people of color accounted for 92.5 percent of all pot-related arrests and 90.5 percent trespassing arrests; overall, people of color account for nearly 87 percent of all total misdemeanor arrests in New York.
In 2015, misdemeanors made up 69 percent of all arrests by the NYPD.
Robert Gangi, the director of PROP, told the Daily News that the NYPD’s arrest tactics were seriously unfair and racialized.
“If the police really wanted to stop fare beating, they would have someone just standing at the turnstile,” Gangi added.
“What the cops do is that one or two officers will hide somewhere on the platform and when someone tries to jump the turnstiles they come out of the shadows and make an arrest.”
“Individual officers are interested in hitting their numbers, making their quotas,” he added. “The numbers show it’s blatantly racist.”
Image via Getty
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