Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Madness in the SF Bay Area: Withholding Surveillance Videos Of Crime To Avoid ‘Stereotypes’


Urban primitives are roaming in the rapid transit system of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and the BART administration is withholding videotapes of the criminal activity of these groups because of the racial makeup of the UPs in these groups.

CBS SFBayArea reports:
 In the last three months, there have been at least three robberies on BART involving groups of teenagers.

“I think people are genuinely concerned — they are fearful about the stories that have come out about the recent attacks, the assaults, the thefts,” said Debora Allen, who is a member of the BART Board of Directors.

April 22: Forty to sixty kids boarded a train at the Coliseum stop and robbed seven passengers, beating up two;

June 28: A group of four kids assaulted a passenger and made off with a cell phone at Dublin; and

June 30: A woman on a train with about a dozen teenagers had her phone snatched by one them before the group got off at the Coliseum stop. Thankfully, a good Samaritan was on hand to retrieve the phone.

So far, BART has refused to turn over surveillance video for any of these incidents.

Allen told us the agency issued an explanation for why it is being tight-lipped about the thefts.

“To release these videos would create a high level of racially insensitive commentary toward the district,” she was told. “And in addition it would create a racial bias in the riders against minorities on the trains.”

According to a memo distributed to BART Directors, the agency won’t do a press release on the June 30 theft because it was a “petty crime” that would make BART look “crime ridden.” Furthermore, it would “unfairly affect and characterize riders of color, leading to sweeping generalizations in media reports.”

The memo was from BART Assistant General Manager Kerry Hamill.

Allen emailed Hamill, “I don’t understand what role the color of one’s skin plays in this issue [of whether to divulge information]. Can you explain?” Hamill responded, “If we were to regularly feed the news media video of crimes on our system that involve minority suspects, particularly when they are minors, we would certainly face questions as to why we were sensationalizing relatively minor crimes and perpetuating false stereotypes in the process.” And added her opinion of the media: “My view is that the media’s real interest in the videos of youth phone snatching incidents isn’t the desire for transparency but rather the pursuit of ratings. They know that video of these events will drive clicks to their websites and viewers to their programs because people are motivated by fear.”

Allen says scared passengers aren’t being unreasonable — being on a BART train is a vulnerable position.

“This is BART, people are sort of trapped in this train for awhile and they have a right to see what could potentially happen.”

She says all this raises questions, “What is the priority of BART? Is the safety of the passenger — of all passengers — is that a lesser priority than the race bias issue?”

According to BART spokesman Taylor Huckaby, state law protecting “juvenile police records” prevents them from showing the surveillance video, even though at least one of the people arrested for the April 22 attack is 19 years old. (He cited Cal. Gov’t Code 827.9) And, even if the faces of juveniles were blurred, Huckaby says watching the videos would be pointless gawking.

9 comments:

  1. Another example of how the state pretends there is a social bargain -- we'll disarm you, but then protect you -- and then fails miserably. Can you imagine if a private security service had this track record? There would be congressional inquiries, licenses revoked, and stories told of "market failure." But when there is state failure? Crickets.

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  2. Wait a minute! You're telling me that all those security videos of white thugs are gonna lead people to racist conclusions?? Inquiring minds gots to know!!

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  3. Fat chance, but SF police could announce that they will seriously consider concealed carry applications from BART riders, could post notices to that effect on BART. Of course the police could patrol the BART cars, but that might be above and beyond the call of duty.

    According to SF's CCW policy a concealed carry applicant "should be able to supply convincing evidence of the following:"

    "1. There is a reported, documented, presently existing, and significant risk of danger to life or of
    great bodily injury to the applicant and/or his or her spouse, domestic partner or dependents;
    2. The danger of harm is specific to the applicant or his or her immediate family and is not
    generally shared by other similarly situated members of the public;
    3. Existing law enforcement resources cannot adequately address the danger of harm;
    4. The danger of harm cannot reasonably be avoided by alternative measures; and
    5. Licensing the applicant to carry a concealed weapon is significantly likely to reduce the
    danger of harm. "

    Riding on BART and being subject to assault and battery and theft, and maybe worse these days ought to be convincing evidence.

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    1. Such a classic example of government "logic":

      "The danger of harm is specific to the applicant or his or her immediate family and is not generally shared by other similarly situated members of the public;"

      So as long as others are also at risk, screw you?

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    2. good luck demonstrating number 2. The danger of harm is specific to the applicant or his or her immediate family and is not
      generally shared by other similarly situated members of the public;

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  4. If you aren't watching Colin Patrick Flaherty you might just be living in a bubble.
    "BART official hides black mob violence on SF trains -- Says she does not want to offend minorities"
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eyjS779JVM

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  5. Avoiding stereotypes or avoiding the truth?

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  6. We all know these were gangs of Japanese American teens. No need to see any tapes.

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  7. This is nothing new and I’m surprised an article was even written on the subject. When normal people on the street read articles regarding a “teen” or “youth” violence or crime but with no pictures, everyone ALREADY KNOWS the perpetrators are black….EVERYONE. It’s all part of the FAKE NEWS agenda to hide black crime. Real people may not admit it out of fear of losing their job, the promotion, the house, the car, the wife, the kids from living in a politically correct police state but they silently understand the danger of black crime- that’s why even white liberals will avoid living in a black neighborhood like the plague despite being 400% cheaper and closer to work. No one REALLY believes in the big lie, “diversity is our strength”.

    http://onedaytop.com/smoke-meets-fire-donald-trump-jr-emailed-russia/

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