Mayor Ed Lee told the press this morning that he is not backing down from implementing some type of stop-and-frisk policy — he just won’t call it that.
“We’ll be utilizing different phrases,” Lee, a former civil rights lawyer, told the Chronicle. “But clearly getting to the guns is the number-one theme.”
Stop and frisk allows police officers to search individuals they deem suspicious, a policy that has been associated with racial profiling. Word that the mayor is considering adopting stop and frisk has triggered an outcry. Last week the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution opposing such a policy.
“There are individuals out there who are not listening, who are not only creating disputes, but they’re ending those disputes with the use of these guns,” Lee said. “We’ve got to get to them. That’s why I’ve been contemplating some kind of authority to put some fear into these kids that they can’t be carrying these guns thinking they can resolve all their problems with them.”
What it really means is that if you are a Latino male, you will be getting hit from both sides. The gangbangers will stop you and ask what gang you are in and might shoot you if you answer wrong. The police will constantly target you for harassment because you “might” have a gun.
I don’t like the gun violence in the Mission, but becoming a police state is not the answer. For those of you that like that sort of thing, please move to NYC where cops are known to arrest people without cause and hassle anyone that doesn’t look like a Wall Street banker.
You make an excellent point about who will suffer from this law. So, how do we best solve the problem? What we want to do is find a way to get rid of the gangbangers without harassing law abiding folks (of any race).
We do have a problem with gangs and gang violence. What do you think the right solution is? How would you suggest we end the violence?
I’ll keep my 4th Amendment rights and take my chances with the guns.
If Lee can get this through the progressive thick skulls of the Board of Supervisors that would be a major victory and big step for helping curb some of the gun violence.
That is ludicrous! Giving the police the right to “frisk” anyone they want is only going to inch us that much closer to a total police state. Let me ask you, Marco, do you personally know ONE person who has been shot or even shot at here in San Francisco? After living here 18 years (and it didn’t used to be oh so shiny. We used to actually have projects in the now higher rent districts and i lived about 4 blocks from one of them) and still, i have NEVER seen one gun fight. You are jumping on the bandwagon of giving up your freedoms due to another fear incident. Keep your pants on and your civil liberties in tact for godsake!
Bluepearlgirl:
Just because you’ve never seen a gunfight personally, doesn’t mean they don’t happen. There are dozens of shootings in the mission each year (including ones where no one is hit, not just ones resulting in deaths or injuries). And the projects are still there, they never left (they were rebuilt though). Amazing how an 18-year mission district resident can be so clueless about certain aspects of the mission…And personally, I know 3 people who have been shot and killed in SF. And one of them was shot in the Mission, over some mistaken identity gang crap. A few years ago, someone I know heard automatic gunfire on his very first night living in the Mission (that night 3 people were killed in two separate shootings just blocks from his house).
But with all that said, I also oppose stop and frisk. Profiling sucks and just increases distrust between police and certain segments of the population. In this case it would be poor latino and black people. Of course profiling already happens, but this would give officers even more power to do it.
How on earth have you managed to live in the Mission for 18 years and not seen gun violence? Do you leave your house ever? On foot? After dark?
Hm, maybe the little picture next to your post will give us some clues as to why you don’t know anyone who’s been shot or shot at.
Um.. I have lived in the Mission for close to 22 years. I have never known anyone who got shot. I have never seen a gun. I have heard gunshots! And I leave my house all the time.
A young man was shot dead across the street from my house – gang hit. It’s a tragedy that’s impossible to forget. I’m definitely open to finding better ways to prevent gun violence.
After gunshots on 3 of the last 4 weekends and a murder on the same block a few months ago, I’m with Marco and think some form of stop and frisk could start to get a handle on the gun violence which seems to be getting worse. I’d like the freedom of walking down the sidewalk without fear of getting caught in crossfire, but somehow that freedom is not as compelling.