2 ms·
Revisiting this because I found a Twitter thread laying out what I was referring to [1]: > A few years ago, when I was at the public defender's office, my very
by jakelazaroff 5y ago
Revisiting this because I found a Twitter thread laying out what I was referring to [1]:
> A few years ago, when I was at the public defender's office, my very poor clients kept telling me the same story: they would be walking down the street and DC police would stop them, search them at gunpoint, tell them to open their wallets, and take all the cash they had. (2)
> The wildest part? The DC police would then send them a letter saying that, if they wanted to challenge the police taking of their cash, they would need to pay either $250 or 10% of the amount taken, whichever was more! (3)
> …
> A lot of the time, cops were taking $5 and $30 from extremely poor people who were struggling to meet the basic necessities of life for their children, like buying food and diapers and shoes. (7)
That is called mugging. And it may be the law of the land, but that doesn’t absolve these dirty cops of their misdeeds. Just like those managers, individual officers are making the choice to steal from people, incentivized and protected by their department.
[1] https://twitter.com/equalityalec/status/1412428330792542209?s=21 https://twitter.com/equalityalec/status/1412428330792542209?...