The US Department of Justice (DOJ) held a listening session Tuesday night to hear from the community about the Tampa Police Department’s controversial bike citation program.
DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) came down to Tampa in response to Mayor Bob Buckhorn and former Police Chief Jane Castor’s invitation to investigate on the issue of police officers allegedly racially profiling black bicyclists.
In April, the Tampa Bay Times published an investigative report shedding light on the issue of alleged racial profiling by the Tampa Police Department. According to the article, a disproportionate amount of ticketed bicyclists – 79 percent or 8 out of 10 citations – are African Americans.
The panel wanted to hear what Tampa residents have to say on the issue.
And they did.
NAACP Hillsborough County Branch Vice President Joseph Robinson was the first to express his outrage during the open forum. He was quick to point out that there was no single black person on the DOJ panel.
Andrew Joseph Jr., father of the late Andrew Joseph III, came forward and lamented on how he believes his son was racially profiled, “illegally detained,” and died as a result of discriminatory police profiling. Andrew Joseph III was one of more than 100 young people who were kicked out of the Florida State Fair last year, and died trying to cross I-4.
It was 12 year old Jordan Taylor who stole attendees’ hearts. Just a little over 4 feet tall, the young boy timidly asked the panel to “do something about this situation.” Taylor expressed his disappointment with the system and referenced the woman balancing a plate of fish and grits mentioned in the Times article, who was issued a $51 ticket for not having a light. Since she had no money to pay for it, her fine ballooned to $90. The young boy said he does not think the system is fair and ended with a note saying that “he was born into poverty” and that if he were to be issued a ticket, his mother “does not have the money to pay for it."
Other attendees asked that the biking citation policy be suspended and even questioned its constitutionality.
While most of the attendees believe that the biking citations indicate racial disparity in policing, there were some who came forward and blatantly expressed that they are in full support of what the police have been doing; most, if not all, were white.
The pro-police attendees were arguing that this was not an issue of color, but rather an issue of “people who can’t follow laws” – it just so happened that most of them are African Americans. One even went as far as saying that the police’s action towards unsafe bicyclists is “the greatest thing that is happening in this town.”
Those not comfortable speaking in public were asked allowed to speak with the panelists after the session. Comment cards were also provided.
Mary Brandenburg, a spokeswoman for COPS, said they want to get as much feedback from the community as possible.
“There really are a bunch of different ways, a variety of different ways for folks to get involved and provide their input,” she said. Brandenburg also encouraged people who were unable to attend the session to go to vcpionline.org to submit their anonymous feedback.
Dr. Matthew C. Scheider, COPS Assistant Director for Research and Development, said that they will analyze all the gathered data and release their findings in the winter.
“If called for, we’ll issue recommendations as well for the police department to implement various reforms, if needed," he said. "And then it will be incumbent upon the citizens of Tampa and city managers, city leaders to work with the police department to ensure the implementation of those reforms."
Some community activists have called for the city to halt the practice over the course of the investigation, something city officials have said they're not willing to do.
