Transit Equity: How Transit Policing Undermines Safety for All
Executive Summary
Law enforcement and police presence play a critical role in transit security crime management. Increased police presence is the primary approach to combat actual transit crime as well as perceptions of transit crime by commuters and communities potentially served by the transit system. This report examines the role of police presence in undermining feelings of safety and accessibility in the transit environment for communities served by transit and in particular for certain racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
Because of the visibility of police presence at transit stations, perceptions of police by key demographic groups are important to inquiry about the impact of police presence in transit centers. White, affluent and older populations tend to have a more positive perceptions of police services while Black and Latino populations tend to have more negative perceptions of police services. Additionally, Black and Latino populations tend to think that police treat Black individuals less fairly. Certain sub-groups of women including women with disabilities and women of ethnic backgrounds register higher levels of fear in public spaces and on transit than white women without these intersecting identity characteristics. While there isn’t significant research on gendered perceptions of police, white women tend to be more satisfied with police services than other groups of women. Research indicates that the most reliable indicator of perception of police is personal direct or indirect contact, whether that contact is voluntary or non-voluntary. Black populations tend to be fearful of non-voluntary contact with police for themselves and relatives and have negative perceptions of police related to fear of non-voluntary police contact. Contentious policies such as Stop and Frisk which encourage and increase the frequency of non-voluntary police contact have drawn criticism as they disproportionately affect Black populations.
This report reviews city-level case studies of Vision Zero as a recent, wide-spread police which, somewhat like Stop and Frisk before it, increases non-voluntary contact by police on roadways and potentially impacts certain populations more than others. Vision Zero implementation to highlight the role of law enforcement in disproportionately targeting populations of color Vision Zero is the newest in transportation safety, requiring participating cities to set a date by which to reach zero traffic fatalities. Vision Zero implementation focuses on enforcement, road design and policy making strategies to reduce and eventually eliminate traffic fatalities. Vision Zero relies heavily on enforcement via traffic police to ensure compliance to roadway safety polices, decreasing dangerous driving behaviors that result in fatalities. Critiques of Vision Zero highlight how increased law enforcement result in the disproportionate targeting of Black and Latino drivers. Black and Latino drivers are more likely to be stopped, less likely to possess illegal contraband and more likely to be ticketed rather than given a warning compared to White drivers. Once stopped, Black populations are treated with less respect and are more likely to endure police use of force compared to White drivers. The disproportionate non-voluntary contact between police and Black populations exposes Black populations to a greater likelihood of police use of force and contributes to the fear that Black populations have of non-voluntary interactions with police. Vision Zero fails to incorporate how increased enforcement increases the likelihood of disproportionate targeting of Black and Latino populations, potentially compromising the public safety goals of the program. Traffic police interactions and violence toward Black drivers is well documented. Black people are more likely to be stopped by police, are less likely to be found with illegal paraphernalia, and are treated with less respect and met with greater violence when stopped by police officers. Critiques of Vision Zero ultimately illuminate how law enforcement may actually compromise the safety of certain groups of people, specifically Black and Latino populations.
This report hones in on policing in the Bay Area’s light rail transit agency, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). BART police disproportionately target Black commuters and receive the greatest number of complaints about police conduct and performance from Black individuals. Fare evasion is a crime unique to transit that exemplifies how transit policing results in the criminalization of low-income Black and Latino youth. Nationally, fare evasion is the highest frequency “crime” in transit, is a relatively low-level crime when compared to the roadway equivalent, toll-evasion, yet is persecuted heavily with high fines or jail time. Criminalization of fare evasion brings these sub-groups into contact the penal system, which increases the likelihood for future non-voluntary and more likely, negative, contact with police. Transit policing of a low-level hugely impacts poor Black and Latino youth
Nationally, municipal and transit police departments have turned to the community policing approach to improve upon equity issues inherent in traditional policing. Community policing, ideally, means that police become knowledgeable of and build trust with the populations they police. Community outreach, community participation and high visibility “See Something, Say Something” styled campaigns are key elements to this approach. However, research finds that Community policing increases perception of crime. While community awareness campaigns increase community agency about crime prevention, societal biases and stereotypes can be a basis of suspicion, making vulnerable ethnic, racial or socioeconomic groups into prejudgment and suspicion. By encouraging vigilance, community awareness campaigns may impact the personal experience and accessibility of the transit environment for certain populations for whom there are negative public stereotypes.
Community policing may compromise the feeling of safety that marginalized groups in society feel in transit stations, an outcome at odds with transit agency goals to decrease perception of crime and fear in transit stations and increase feelings of safety.
An interview with equity consultant, community advocate and active transportation planner, Tamika Butler sheds light on the impact of police presence on Black and Latino communities. They point to a long history of institutionally sanctioned violence toward these racial groups which has a bred fear of police. As transit policing stands today, it disproportionately impacts certain racial, class and ethnic groups for whom there is a generationally cultivated fear of police presence, attention and violence. Police presence may thus compromise feelings of safety for certain groups, including Black and Latino populations, impacting the accessibility of the transit environment for those that most often rely on the service.
A few recommendations are provided that address the role of police presence in undermining transit accessibility and equity. These recommendations acknowledge the inherent cultural and procedural institutional biases of police departments and begin to lay groundwork for a security culture that is not implemented at cost to certain ethnic, racial or socioeconomic groups.
(Contact for access to full report)
