Bring back, that lurking feeling...
The motion failed by a 7 to 5 vote.
“I think it is unfortunate,” says Gordon. “It’s an ineffective public safety tool.”
Minneapolis is one of just two cities in the country that has a specifically tailored anti-lurking ordinance. Proponents say it helps combat drug dealing. More specifically, the ordinance gives police the power to write up tickets for drug dealers who don’t necessarily have any drugs on them, which is to say non-drug dealers who merely look suspicious, which is to say “tan” people hanging out downtown after 11 p.m.
Of the nearly 300 people who’ve been arrested or cited for lurking the past two years, 74 percent are minorities.
“It’s just a poor ordinance,” says Gordon. “The conviction rate hovers around twenty-five-percent and it also contributes to economic and racial disparities. But while the motion failed, there were two pubic hearings and people were made aware of institutional racism.”
The ordinance does not pertain to skulking, creeping, slinking, or pussyfooting, all of which are Saturday night pastimes enjoyed by unattached white males over age 50.
[ace reporter Matt Snyders is currently off on an adventure to Phoenix... but the humble Iowan contributed 95% of this post]
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