Sep 04, 2020 08:00:00

What is the problem caused by the 'preferred card' that indicates that you are close to a police officer?

The New

York City Police Charity Association (PBA) , a police union in New York City, USA, has issued a special card called 'PBA Card' to its members. Police officers can distribute this card to close people such as family and friends, but VICE of overseas media points out that 'PBA card distorts police crackdown.'

The Little Cards That Tell Police'Let's Forget This Ever Happened'
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v7gxa4/pba-card-police-courtesy-cards

A man who wanted to remain anonymous, named Mike, who provided information to VICE, had a traffic violation in New York City one day in 1993, and a police officer called him. Mr. Mike, who was caught in a traffic jam while traveling by car, said he ran on a no-traffic shoulder with the intention of meeting in time. Even worse, the car Mike was driving was a borrowed car without a license plate.

'This was probably the toughest situation I've come across,' as Mike said, would normally have been plagued with traffic violations and other problems. So Mike said he had presented the 'PBA card' he had in his possession when a police officer called for the car to stop by and called out through the window.

The PBA card issued by the New York City Police Charity Association has the name and phone number of the police officers distributed, and is generally presented to police officers when they commit a minor violation such as a traffic violation. The police officer presented with the PBA card will confirm the name and telephone number on the card, the relationship between the owner and the police officer, and in some cases contact the police officer who distributed the card. In fact, the PBA card functions as a kind of 'preferred card', and if it is a minor traffic violation, it is often overlooked by presenting the PBA card.

After all, the police officer who confirmed the PBA card presented by Mr. Mike released Mr. Mike and did not even give a ticket. Mr. Mike has a lot of work with police officers, and he has many opportunities to get a PBA card as a 'mark of thanks and trust' in this relationship. Since 1993, Mike has said that he has benefited from PBA cards several times.

Although PBA cards are available in a limited number of layers, their existence is not a secret. Other police unions in New York City, the Criminal Fund Society , the Consular General's Charity Society , and the Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Boston police unions, do the same by issuing their own 'priority cards.'

Many people who have a PBA card have a close relationship with police officers, so they have a friendly respect for police officers and people who are friendly to police officers and respect their work. That's right. A man named Jack, who receives PBA cards from business connections and friends, tells VICE that he feels most ``not using'' PBA cards and that he feels responsible for being a PBA card holder. I am.

Mr. Jack, who once presented the PBA card about three times, said that the friend who gave the card seems to warn himself even if he avoids the traffic ticket by presenting the PBA card. He also argued that the PBA card should not be presented in the event of a serious problem such as a fight in a bar, as it indicates a relationship of trust between the police officer and himself. He says that it is not advisable to present a PBA card when you do something bad and to bother the person who gave you the card.

According to John Driscoll, an associate professor of John Jay College and a former police officer of the New York City Police Department, PBA cards are likely to be valid for minor traffic violations such as speeding and damage to the rear lights, and it is likely that drunk driving etc. PBA cards are often useless for serious violations. However, since police officers have a wide range of discretion in the field, how to make a judgment upon receiving a PBA card depends on the judgment of each police officer.

Although minor traffic violations are overlooked by PBA cards, in the United States minor traffic violations can lead to violence by police or even killing. In 2016, a black man Filand Castille, who was stopped by the police because the rear light of the car was damaged,

was shot by a police officer when he was misunderstood that he tried to take out a gun An incident has also occurred.

If Castile was presenting her PBA card, it might not have been a serious event. The fact that some people are favored by the presentation of PBA cards is supported by the wide discretion of police officers in the field, which may contribute to the racial prejudice that police officers have. I can say.

On the other hand, it is also pointed out that police officers respect the PBA card not by the presenter himself, but by 'a colleague's police officer who gave the PBA card to the person.' Therefore, some of the police officers who Mike presented with a PBA card in the past seemed to have a harsh attitude toward Mike, saying, 'I will give you a ticket.'

In 2019, the PBA limits the maximum number of PBA cards that can be given to one member to 20. Since there are 24,000 PBA members, it is possible that up to 480,000 PBA cards may be in circulation. Driscoll pointed out that if the number of PBA cards in circulation is too large, the value of the cards themselves will decrease, and there may be a move to tighten restrictions on the cards that can be used.

Tyler Wall , an associate professor of sociology at the University of Tennessee, points out that the PBA card is distorting crackdowns by accelerating the bias of police officers, but remember that the original problem is the police system itself. Insisted it wouldn't.