The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area is excited to invite you to a panel discussing our new groundbreaking report, Cited for Being in Plain Sight: How California Polices Being Black, Brown and Unhoused in Public.
Join us on Wednesday, September 30th at 10AM for a discussion of the findings from the new report!
Police in California issued over 250,000 non-traffic infraction citations in 2019 for offenses that primarily criminalize everyday behaviors such as standing, sleeping, owning a dog, and crossing the street. The result is hundreds of dollars in fines and fees people cannot afford to pay, and, in some counties, warrants and arrests for people who do not either pay or appear in court. This ongoing form of police harassment of Black, Latinx, homeless and disabled people is the cause of ongoing trauma, and enforcement of minor infractions has led to significant police violence.
82 California Public Records Act (PRA) requests were sent to County Courts, Police Departments, and Sheriff’s Departments. We pulled data from 8 counties across the state:
• San Diego County
• Los Angeles County
• San Francisco County
• Alameda County, which a special focus on the Oakland Police Dept.
• Sacramento County
• Santa Clara County
• Kern County
• San Bernardino County
• Stanilaus County
We hope that this report can be as useful as possible for community advocates and organizers to fuel local campaigns! If you have any questions, please email Sam Lew at slew@lccrsf.org.
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