the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Nov 22, 2021
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies use minor violations as an excuse to stop and search bicyclists in working class and low-income neighborhoods.
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that bike riders in those neighborhoods are stopped and searched far more often than those in more affluent, upper-class parts of Los Angeles County. For example, in the working-class neighborhood of East L.A., the deputies stopped 3,700 bike riders within the last four years, and they searched 93% of riders they stopped there. By contrast, the deputies stopped fewer than ten riders in upscale neighborhoods such as Agoura Hills and Westlake Village within the same period, and didn’t search any of the bike riders they stopped.
The main goal of the Sheriff’s Department is not to stop crime but to harass the working-class population.