Police Union Caught Issuing ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ Cards to Family, Friends That Get Them Out of Tickets

 Known as a blue privilege, there's a practice among police officers: once they catch their fellow cop, or maybe their fellow cop’s loved one or friend breaking the law, they're abandoning without consequence. Situations that have led to the murder of minorities and poor people end far differently when its police and their families caught committing an equivalent crime. A recent return of Vice shows that this corruption runs so deep that police unions actually issue courtesy cards to friends and family of cops that allow them to urge out of minor infractions.

The cards are issued by the Police Benevolent Association or other police unions and that they are referred to as “courtesy cards.” they need the issuing officer’s name and signature on the rear, alongside a telephone number for the ticketing or arresting officer to call to verify the connection.

As Vice reports, the cards are designed to be presented during a low-stakes police encounter, sort of a traffic stop, as a laminated wink-and-nudge between officers that says, “Hey, would you mind going a touch easy on this one?” When a cop is handed a PBA card, they will call the amount thereon to verify the connection between the cardholder and therefore the issuer, then decide whether it means they ought to give the cardholder an opportunity.

Vice interviewed a person identified only as Mike, who told them he’s been a courtesy card carrier for many years. Mike told Vice of 1 police encounter during which he was driving a car that wasn't his, had no car place, and was illegally driving on the shoulder through a police checkpoint when he was stopped. Despite Richard breaking numerous laws ahead of the police, once they stopped him, he pulled out the cardboard and he was sent on his way.

“That was probably the tightest spot I could’ve been in,” Mike said. “Because [the offense] could’ve been ‘driving without a plate,’ ‘driving with no registration…’”

The PBA isn’t even trying to stay it a secret. As Vice reports, NY City’s largest police union issues these courtesy cards—nicknamed “get out of jail free cards”—to its members on a yearly basis. Members can pass the cards bent whomever they prefer to provide them with a touch extra protection.

While cops don’t need to necessarily abide by the cardboard and may use discretion, either way, the very fact that the cards exist highlights a glaring problem with police.

TFTP has reported on countless cases during which minuscule traffic infractions have led to brutal beatings, shootings, and killings of otherwise entirely innocent people.

One prominent example of this is often Philando Castile — who was executed by police — despite breaking no law. On July 6, 2016, Minnesota policeman Jeronimo Yanez pulled over a 32-year-old African American male named Castile for a broken tail light. During the stop, Castile informed Yanez he had a legal firearm in his vehicle. The admission caused Yanez to issue a rapid sequence of conflicting orders leading to Yanez “fearing for his life,” and subsequently killing Castile, despite the very fact that he had committed no crime—other than the alleged vehicle infraction.

Yanez was cleared of all wrongdoing within the execution of Castile. Had Castile been carrying a PBA card, he would likely be alive today. But we’re guessing these cards don’t make their thanks to the hands of too many poor and minority people.

This list of police killings for minor infractions goes on and on.

The odds weren’t in Walter L. Scott’s favor. Reportedly pulled over for a broken taillight, Scott—unarmed—ran far away from the policeman, who pursued and shot him from behind, first with a Taser, then with a gun. Scott was struck five times, “three times within the back, once within the upper buttocks and once within the ear — with a minimum of one bullet entering his heart.”

Samuel Dubose, also unarmed, was pulled over for a missing front car place. He was reportedly shot within the head after a quick struggle during which his car began rolling forward.

Levar Jones was stopped for a seatbelt offense, even as he was getting out of his car to enter a shop. Directed to point out his license, Jones leaned into his car to urge his wallet, only to be shot fourfold by the “fearful” officer. Jones was also unarmed.

Bobby Canipe was pulled over for having an expired registration. When the 70-year-old reached into the rear of his truck for his walking cane, the officer fired several shots at him, hitting him once within the abdomen.

Dontrell Stevens was stopped “for not bicycling properly.” The officer pursuing him “thought the way Stephens rode his bike was suspicious. He thought the way Stephens got off his bike was suspicious.” Four seconds later, sheriff’s deputy Adams Lin shot Stephens fourfold as he pulled out a black object from his waistband. the thing was the telephone. Stephens was unarmed.

Had any of the aforementioned individuals been given one among these PBA cards, they might likely be alive today.

The sad part about this is often that the connected class’s preferential treatment through the issuance of those cards allows them a pass once they can actually pay the fines imposed on them through these traffic stops. the bulk of traffic citations in most areas, however, attend poor people and minorities who often cannot afford to pay them. once they fail to pay their citations, arrest warrants are issued and these folks get processed into the system ensuring a lifetime of suffering.

The solution here isn’t to start out ticketing more rich people, it’s to prevent predatory policing all at once and inaugurate a society where a police union gets out of jail card is moot because cops stop extorting people for being unable to repair a broken tail light.