There is also distressing, wide-spread ignorance or defiance of the sensible law that bicycles must ride with traffic, like all other vehicles. Most also do not bother to have helmets on, even the kids under 16, who are required by law to do so. (That happens every time you get stopped while driving, whatever your color.) As an East Tampa resident, and a devoted bicyclist, I am distressed that most of my black neighbors who ride bicycles still do not have them properly equipped with required safety equipment like lights. Once stopped, questioning occurred, I recall intended to determine whether there was a warrant outstanding or some other reason to detain the individual. They were stopped for being in violation of state law. Hence, the direction of law enforcement resources to it. ![]() It happened that most of the people stopped under that program were black, and that is because most of the program activity occurred in east Tampa, which is predominantly black, and which is also where the majority of crime in the city takes place. The program there was one which involved stopping bicyclists because they were in violation of state law requiring lights both fore and aft on the bicycle when used at night. No one was ever stopped for “biking while black.” This is a canard. It was rebranded as Safety Awareness for Everyone, or SAFE, without the reporting of crimes to landlords. The city said it ended the program in December. But his family’s landlord was notified and they lost their Robles Park Village home. In one instance, a 16-year-old boy was arrested for stealing change out of cars and later released from juvenile detention with no charges. That’s despite Black residents making up only 54% of all arrests in Tampa over the past eight years.” The Times investigation found “90% of the 1,100 people flagged by the program were Black, police records show. Regardless of conviction or being a lessee, landlords were empowered to evict any tenant associated with an arrest.Īnd the arrests disproportionately impacted the Black community. In many cases offenders were never convicted of the crimes were juvenile residents of a home or were guests of a home. It was supposed to help keep violent crime, drugs and gang activity out of rental properties.īut a Tampa Bay Times investigation found police officers notified landlords of minor misdemeanor crimes, like shoplifting or driving with a suspended license, and provided lease addendums that allowed tenants to be evicted. Castor implemented the Crime-Free Multi Housing program in 2013 when she was chief of police. ![]() The investigation was launched to see if Tampa’s Crime-Free Housing Program violated the Fair Housing Act by denying access to or creating separate terms to certain applicants or tenants.
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