Source - KION
Pedestrians crossing the street to utilize the benefits of a break in traffic flow, even sans the pedestrian signal, is a regular sight in San Francisco and across the state. However, the so-called harmless time-saving hack can result in a criminal citation and steep fines for specific individuals, especially those of color.
Assemblymember Phil Ting wants to decriminalize jaywalking. He proposed reforms earlier this week to reduce the unfair financial pressure of such tickets on the poor and prevent people of color's unjust criminalization for minor infractions. “Whether it’s someone’s life or the hundreds/thousands of dollars in fines, the cost is too much for a relatively minor infraction,” Ting said at a press conference. “It’s time to reconsider how we use our law enforcement resources and whether our jaywalking laws really do protect pedestrians and all road users.”
Freedom To Walk Act
Source - SF Examiner
Assembly Bill 1283, also known as the Freedom to Walk Act, will make it safe to cross the street without using a crosswalk or against a traffic light. The bill will also eliminate the penalties for jaywalking, which may reach $250 until late fees. The bill states that crossing the street without using a crosswalk or waiting for a traffic light to turn green is only lawful if it does not result in an imminent hazard; however, the meaning has yet to be established.
A slew of statistics suggest that persons of color are disproportionately likely to be targeted by law enforcement, even for minor infractions, a fact noted by proponents of the bill as evidence that jaywalking enforcement is arbitrary. Caro Jauregui, co-executive director of California Walks, said that due to social, ethnic inequality and inadequate crosswalk conditions in the cities that prioritize drivers' interests overall road users, low-income and minority groups are most likely to be cited for crossing unsafely.
According to a California Racial and Identity Profiling Act survey, black Californians were interrupted up to four-and-a-half times more than white Californians between 2018 and 2020. In September 2020, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area published a survey titled "Cited for Being in Plain Sight", which looked at the state's 15 major law enforcement departments' citation patterns from July 2018 and December 2019.
Black Adults More Likely To Be Fined
Source - Gallup Poll
In the study of 250,000 non-traffic infraction citations obtained during that time span, black adults in California were 9.7 times more likely to be fined than white adults in the same region for activities like standing, sitting, or crossing the street, and Latino adults were 5.8 times more likely. This experience may have high stakes.
Chinedu Okobi, who had a history of mental illness, was killed by San Mateo County deputies in Millbrae in 2018 after an incident that started with a report of him walking through traffic. “Jaywalking laws do more than turn an ordinary and logical behavior into a crime; they also create opportunities for police to racially profile,” said Jared Sanchez of the California Bicycle Coalition, a co-sponsor of the bill.
“A stop for a harmless infraction like jaywalking can turn into a potentially life-threatening police encounter for Black people, who are disproportionately targeted and suffer the most severe consequences of inequitable law enforcement.”
San Francisco Police Department And Racial Bias
Source - Forbes
The San Francisco Police Department has a legacy of racial bias in its enforcement. According to statistics from the SFPD Racial and Identity Profiling Board, people of color make up 65 percent of all arrests made by police of a person on foot or in a vehicle in 2019.
At a meeting last summer, Chief Bill Scott told members of the Police Commission that, while he acknowledges the inequalities are still an issue, he sees improvement in the department's attempts to eliminate racial disparity in its enforcement procedures, in part by reducing the number of arrests and searches and doubling down on unconscious bias instruction. Ting's law elicited no direct response from the San Francisco Police Department.