Some call it “stop-and-frisk by another name.” Others say it’s an excuse for cops to up the number of outstanding arrest warrants.
But the facts in a recent CUNY Law School study show that from 2008 to 2011, the New York City Police Department issued more tickets in minority than in other neighborhoods to cyclists who rode their bikes on the sidewalk. Of the 15 neighborhoods with the greatest number of summonses for the crime of bicycling on the sidewalk, 12 consist mainly of blacks and Latinos. And you’d better bet they used pot as a reason to arrest a good number of those folks. More at the Village Voice.