Posted on 12/10/2013 7:14:21 AM PST by Altura Ct.
Civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and retail executives have hammered out a list of rules that will be tacked up inside stores to ensure that black shoppers will not be racially profiled and targeted just for buying a pricey item.
Six weeks after the Daily News reported on a series of racial-profiling allegations from black shoppers, a coalition of high-end retailers and civil rights leaders came up with a “bill of rights” to protect customers from “shop-and-frisk” practices.
The list was released to the media after getting final approval Monday morning at a meeting that included the Rev. Al Sharpton and executives from Barneys, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor and other department stores.
Sharpton hailed the “best practices” agreement — the first of its kind between community leaders and the retail industry — as a step in the right direction.
But the issue won’t be fully resolved until the coalition gets the NYPD to participate, he said. “We cannot have an agreement with the NYPD without the incoming commissioner saying, ‘We agree to that,’ ” said Sharpton, who has reached out to newly appointed Police Commissioner Bill Bratton for a sitdown.
Bratton didn’t respond to calls for comment Monday, but a spokeswoma.n for Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio said the commissioner-designate would be happy to meet with the group.
“Mayor-elect de Blasio has said repeatedly that his administration will have zero tolerance for racial profiling of any kind,” said spokeswoman Lis Smith, adding that de Blasio “deeply appreciates” the retailers’ willingness to adopt the new policies.
The bill of rights says that store employees who racially profile customers can be disciplined and possibly even fired.
Vulgar language or excessive force while detaining suspects are prohibited. Employees are required to “respect the basic civil and legal rights of any person suspected” of a crime, the list says.
Stores will be subject to internal tests to make sure they are in compliance — and the regulations must be applied nationwide, not just in department stores in New York City. Rules must be “highly visible,” said Kirsten John Foy, head of Brooklyn’s National Action Network chapter.
“We left it to each store to figure out their specifics for posting, but it must be posted in common areas, available upon request and clearly placed on store websites,” he said.
Retailers have a week to get the information online and in stores — and some have even pledged to run ads publicizing the bill of rights to customers, said Foy. “The message I think is very simple,” said Ed Goldberg, Macy’s vice president. “We understand the gravity of the situation. . . . We subscribe to the document that’s going to be released by the retail council.”
Monday’s “shop-and-frisk” forum grew out of racial profiling allegations that surfaced in October at Barneys and Macy’s.
As first reported by The News, four black shoppers alleged they were wrongfully stopped by NYPD detectives after buying pricey items at the stores. The initial allegations were made by Trayon Christian, 19, and Kayla Phillips, 21, in October against Barneys. Both shoppers claimed they were wrongfully accused of debit card fraud by undercover NYPD detectives after buying pricey items in the upscale store. After The Daily News broke their stories, two more black shoppers stepped forward with similar claims against Macy's. Actor Rob Brown, 29, and Art Palmer, 56, a personal trainer, both said they were stopped by cops after shopping at the department store. Both Barneys and Macy’s denied any racial profiling and pinned the blame on cops. NYPD spokesman John McCarthy has said detectives reacted to information given to them by store employees in each instance.
So, if you cross the street to avoid a close encounter with a group of potential knockout thugs and a cop sees it, he has to arrest you? If the cop sees the potential for the "game" to be played (group of young black males following or approaching a lone individual or couple of another race), must he look away and distance himself to avoid "profiling"?
It seems nearly the whole world is racing towards communism. It always sounds so good in words and on paper— protecting this and that right. It never ends up that way.
For every protection and every bit of nourishment we are giving something away, until finally we have nothing left us to give but servitude.
Serve man and it will end in tears and slavery. Just look at PETA and the animals they ‘help’...
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/proof
To protect themselves, I suggest they fail to report to store security all shoplifting they actually see with their own eyes.
To protect themselves, I suggest all cops turn a deaf ear to any reports of shoplifting from customers of any stores, anywhere.
Then, after a year, I want to see the dollar amount of losses from shoplifting reported by these stores.
Of course, the stores will just pass the cost of shoplifting on to their customers. And, thousands of sticky-fingered perps will soon be enjoying a bountiful life as a tangible result from their newly-found career of daily, unfettered, nine-to-five shoplifting.
Leni
Rev Al also agreed that should the store post the shop and frisk profiling bill of rights he will also allow them to post a no knockout bill of rights assuring white shoppers they will not be profiled to be knocked out while shopping.
I was going to say start with their own kids, but the upright, honest black people of good character probably do so already.
Quit breaking the law asshole.
There is too much money invested in the thug culture to tame it now.
my thoughts exactly.
Freddies Fashion Mart was not available for comment.
I shop at high end stores outlets....Nordstroms Rack, Saks Iff Fifth, etc. and have seen people shoplift in them. I don’t say a word. If they don’t want to police themselves I am not going to do it for them.
"Marxists of America unite! You have only a country and 300 million people to subjugate. Victory is at hand!"
What it will boil down to is, “Let blacks shoplift and don’t you dare say ‘boo’ to them. Only whites can be apprehended and arrested for shoplifting.”
Wait and see.
>>Civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and retail executives have hammered out a list of rules that will be tacked up inside stores to ensure that black shoppers will not be racially profiled and targeted just for buying a pricey item.<<
In exchange, the Black community promises that Blacks will never ever shoplift, intimidate people, play the knockout “game” and not be responsible for 60+% of all crime proportionate to their numbers.
Yeah, that’s pretty much the trend - blacks are NOT to be held to the same standards as everyone else, because that would be racist.
All the anti-Stand Your Ground movement is
is a “Whitey Take Your Well-Deserved Beatdown” movement.
Employee bill of rights: Stay back and do not interfere with black shoplifters. Do nothing whatsoever to stop thieves from taking whatever they want. When the store goes out of business, point to the black shoppers bill or rights on your way out the door and smile, make sure the store owner knows you did exactly what was called for.
so it’s a civil right then if black shoppers decide to flash mob and rob the store?
Thats how I take it.
Enjoy your new mayor NYC....display your stupidity proudly
A few years ago there was a flap over anti-theft devices on cosmetics intended for the minority crowd. Of course THOSE cosmetics were sailing out the door without stopping at the cash register first.
Didn’t they realize that the problem wasn’t the devices but the stealing?
I wonder what Rev Al cut was...?
I am sure the NYC trial lawyers are popping champagne corks..
New stream of revenue. ...
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