DC council to hold hearings on decriminalizing fare evasion on the Metro.

[Anonymous]

The council loves this kind of SJW nonsense, nevermind the Metro's financial troubles. Does Virginia and Maryland have a say in how WMATA is run? I know they will never agree to this sort of idiotic nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the actual penalty for jumping? There is actually an arrest and it goes to court? How often? Aside from that the district has plenty of resources and we should be putting them towards criminal justice. Where do you get the impression that we don't have the means to prosecute fare jumpers along with other cases? That's a completely random assertion.

Plenty of resources in law enforcement? Man, the District has a shortage of cops - they cannot hire them fast enough. How do you not know that? It has been well documented.

WMATA police handle metro crimes. How do you not know that?

WMATA also has a shortage of police officers. But also ask yourself, who prosecutes crimes on Metro?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The council loves this kind of SJW nonsense, nevermind the Metro's financial troubles. Does Virginia and Maryland have a say in how WMATA is run? I know they will never agree to this sort of idiotic nonsense.

Well Virginia and Maryland can certainly decide what crimes they will prosecute in their jurisdiction.

[Anonymous]

So I can jump the turnstyle and in the extremely unlikely event that I'm caught I only have to pay $25? Sounds like a great deal, sign me up! The once in a blue moon fine will still save me money from the high Metro fares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shout out to the Save Our System Campaign for their efforts to decriminalize fare evasion.

More like Save Our Local Criminal Element.

The broken window rule is that if police don't sweat the small stuff, the public feels powerless in the face of lawlessness and criminals feel more empowered to commit more serious crimes.

What the proposed legislation would do is make fare jumping the equivalent of a parking ticket, a speeding ticket or a red light ticket. From a resource allocation standpoint, I am not sure I see the problem. Are people saying that fare jumping is more "criminal" than speeding or running a red light?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I can jump the turnstyle and in the extremely unlikely event that I'm caught I only have to pay $25? Sounds like a great deal, sign me up! The once in a blue moon fine will still save me money from the high Metro fares.

Right...just like the people who take HOV lanes with only one person in the car on the premise that is a "great" deal.

[Anonymous]

Shout out to D.C. Council Member Trayon White who introduced the bill in July aimed at decriminalizing fare evasion on Metro, arguing there were better uses of police resources and that harsh penalties for fare evaders do little public good.

[Anonymous]

Will DC pick up the tab for the lost revenue? I refuse to pay for DC's bullshit as VA resident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the actual penalty for jumping? There is actually an arrest and it goes to court? How often? Aside from that the district has plenty of resources and we should be putting them towards criminal justice. Where do you get the impression that we don't have the means to prosecute fare jumpers along with other cases? That's a completely random assertion.

From https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/07/11/d-c-council-bill-would-decriminalize-metro-fare-evasion/?utm_term=.ed71ba9f4544:

The bill, the “Fare Evasion Decriminalization Act of 2017,” would make fare evasion a civil rather than criminal penalty under the D.C. code and lower the fine for offenders to $100 from $300. It also would eliminate the possibility of jail time, removing a phrase from the code that allows fare evasion to be punished by up to 10 days in jail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will DC pick up the tab for the lost revenue? I refuse to pay for DC's bullshit as VA resident.

Did you even read what the legislation will do? It's a penalty decriminalization statue, not an enforcement issue.

[Anonymous]

It is an enforcement issue, decriminalization basically sends a message to LE to not even bother anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shout out to D.C. Council Member Trayon White who introduced the bill in July aimed at decriminalizing fare evasion on Metro, arguing there were better uses of police resources and that harsh penalties for fare evaders do little public good.

Trayon wants to inherit the old Marion Barry base -- the folks who have frequent run ins with the criminal justice system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is an enforcement issue, decriminalization basically sends a message to LE to not even bother anymore.

Really? Do LE's not give speeding tickets anymore although the penalty is a fine? How about red light and parking tickets? The message it sends is give the guy a desk ticket and get on with trying to keep more serious offenders and terrorists out of the Metro system. It says focus on more serious offenders and stop arresting people for this particular offense. It also says that we are not going to clutter up or prosecutors' desks with this stuff when they can be prosecuting other crimes.

Interesting though, a lot of the fare jumpers I knew in NYC were private school kids who jumped the gate so they could buy pot with the money their parents gave them for the subway. I wonder if there would be the same opposition if that were the case here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shout out to D.C. Council Member Trayon White who introduced the bill in July aimed at decriminalizing fare evasion on Metro, arguing there were better uses of police resources and that harsh penalties for fare evaders do little public good.

Trayon wants to inherit the old Marion Barry base -- the folks who have frequent run ins with the criminal justice system.

And?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shout out to D.C. Council Member Trayon White who introduced the bill in July aimed at decriminalizing fare evasion on Metro, arguing there were better uses of police resources and that harsh penalties for fare evaders do little public good.

Trayon wants to inherit the old Marion Barry base -- the folks who have frequent run ins with the criminal justice system.

Birds of a feather flock together as the saying goes.