Eight out of 10 bicyclists who are ticketed in Tampa are black, according to a Tampa Bay Times review of thousands of tickets in the past dozen years. While black residents make up about a quarter of the city’s populace, the report says, they received 79 percent of bike tickets.
From the story: “A Tampa Bay Times investigation has found that Tampa police are targeting poor, black neighborhoods with obscure subsections of a Florida statute that outlaws things most people have tried on a bike, like riding with no light or carrying a friend on the handlebars. Officers use these minor violations as an excuse to stop, question and search almost anyone on wheels. The department doesn't just condone these stops, it encourages them, pushing officers who patrol high-crime neighborhoods to do as many as possible.”
Read the full report by the Tampa Bay Times.