“The court rejects RTA’s policy of utilizing its law enforcement officers to perform fare enforcement functions requiring officers to stop passengers without reasonable articulable suspicion,” the opinion read.
Those stops, performed by armed police officers, “decorated with the color of law,” are, according to the court, a violation of passengers’ Fourth Amendment rights to be secure in their person against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Judge Groves requested a constitutional review during a routine fare enforcement case. A passenger had been pulled from a HealthLine bus by RTA police on July 13 when he’d failed to produce a fare card. The defendant later testified that the fare card machine had malfunctioned at the station where he’d boarded (Euclid and Superior, in East Cleveland) and that he’d paid a cash fare once he was on the bus. He was nevertheless cited for fare evasion. The court then raised the question of the stop’s constitutionality.
The resulting decision was definitive: The practice of using police officers to enforce fares constitutes a “systemic attempt to arbitrarily police passengers” and “infringes upon [passengers’] Fourth Amendment rights.”
In her opinion, Judge Groves described acceptable stops by law enforcement and demonstrated that requiring every passenger to produce a fare card with no evidence (or “articulable suspicion”) that they did not pay is unconstitutional. Mere presence on the bus cannot be considered reasonable suspicion. Her opinion said that if RTA used non law-enforcement officers, the constitutional question would be off the table.
But “there must be an intermediary between police and passengers to prevent arbitrary and abusive police encounters,” the opinion read.
The decision comes in the wake of a September report by Scene that morale in the fare enforcement division of RTA’s police force is extremely low. Due to aggressive, if unofficial, new policies that officers said have removed their discretion in encounters with riders, many part-time officers have left the force and others said they feel like robots in an attempt to generate revenue for the cash-strapped transit system.
RTA released a statement Wednesday confirming that HealthLine riders must now pay as they board if transit police officers do not check fares prior to boarding.
“While the city is considering its next steps and RTA is reviewing the impact of the [Groves] decision, RTA is modifying our process and testing it to determine the best way to employ the most efficient fare collection method without impairing on-time performance,” RTA wrote in a statement to Scene.
And while RTA admitted that operations might slow down “over the next several days,” regular riders are bemoaning a severe lag in efficiency.
The local transit advocacy group Clevelanders for Public Transit issued a statement in response calling on RTA to immediately take the following actions “in order to implement convenient and equitable fare enforcement:”
● Commit to establishing a system-wide proof-of-payment system:“All-door boarding should eventually expand to all routes,” Clevelanders for Public Transit argued. “With this approach, RTA would shift to a pro-rider
○ To be enforced by unarmed fare inspectors
○ With consistent inspection across routes and time of day
● Decriminalize fare evasion by reducing fare evasion to a civil penalty as opposed to a criminal offense.
● Reinstate a 2.5 hour period for a single-trip fares.
● Expand all-door boarding to include other heavily used routes in order to reduce trip time and operating costs.
approach that improves transit for all, especially riders who may not have complete information.”
As for the fare-evasion case against the passenger who was stopped in July: It was dismissed.
“Since the initial stop was unconstitutional…” read the opinion, “the issue of fare evasion is moot.”
Here’s the complete Groves decision:
This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2017.
The case was found not guilty, get your fake news facts straight Sammy!
Thank you Libtard, you Trump absorbed conservative troll, as your liberal bashing post alerted me to the probability that you were lying in an effort to make others look bad.
Read the case, if you can read, that is conveniently provided for you by the REAL news reporter who wrote this article, so that people like me could look it up ourselves and know for certain that another enemy of Democracy is dwelling amongst us, attacking people with “trumped” up “facts”, as if not guilty wouldn’t have been an equal outcome in this case.
But it clearly states that the CASE WAS DIMISSED just as reported, so enjoy your thirty pieces of silver while you can.
So we used to only wait about one minute while the police pulled all the pieces of shit off the bus who didnt pay, now the healthline just got about 20 minutes slower because everyone has to swipe. Can we go back to the old way?
More support for the criminals in this town. No wonder theres so much crime in this city. People that are hired to enforce the rules are prevented from doing so. Judges who go out of their way to support crime and prevent repercussions for illegal activity are as much a scourge on society as the criminals themselves. Institutionalized condoned theft from cradle to grave. Its disgraceful. When RTA goes broke and cuts routes, who will suffer. The decent people who follow the rules and pay their way. The scum that cheated and caused the burden will just continue to scam society until they go to far and end up in jail. Thou shalt not steal. That includes rides. The final judge will bring justice. And to corrupt judges as well.
More support for the criminals in this town. No wonder theres so much crime in this city. People that are hired to enforce the rules are prevented from doing so. Judges who go out of their way to support crime and prevent repercussions for illegal activity are as much a scourge on society as the criminals themselves. Institutionalized condoned theft from cradle to grave. Its disgraceful. When RTA goes broke and cuts routes, who will suffer. The decent people who follow the rules and pay their way. The scum that cheated and caused the burden will just continue to scam society until they go to far and end up in jail. Thou shalt not steal. That includes rides. The final judge will bring justice. And to corrupt judges as well.
RTA = Rolling Thugs Around
07/27/2017 08:30 AM 3rd Floor Courtroom C Misdemeanor Arraignment NOT GUILTY PLEA ENTERED Criminal, Judge/Magistrate
08/09/2017 09:30 AM 14th Floor Courtroom B Criminal Trial Continued Groves, Emanuella
09/08/2017 10:30 AM 14th Floor Courtroom B HEARING Continued Groves, Emanuella
10/27/2017 11:00 AM 14th Floor Courtroom B HEARING FOUND NOT GUILTY Groves, Emanuella
Here you go https://clevelandmunicipalcourt.org/public-access
Type in Ronnie Williams, 5/18/59 or case number 2017 CRB 015467
Case was not DISMISSED Mr. Miller
It would be really easy for anyone in Cleveland to go to another city, Chicago, Boston, NYC, and see what system they use for public transportation, and duplicate it here. The fact is that I can get on at certain train stops and get off without ever scanning a card at all. Which means that unless someone forces me to produce a fare card, why should I ever even buy one? Simply adding doors and swipe machines to the stations that forces people to buy cards would keep it fast (those other three cities handle millions of people a day) and would make sure people are paying. Resulting in more money for RTA while also requiring less enforcement by actual people or police. Problem Solved!
Maybe the RTA should hire Sheriff Joe Arpaio to do the checks. He was pardoned!
I see from the case that the farecard machine not functioning started this whole situation.
The farecard machines are very unreliable and have a terrible interface. RTA administrators and RTA Police should always factor the poor quality machines into any fare scenario.
I have had problems with them myself.
That said, this new approach to the fare situation is terrible–causing slow buses and lots of anger.
This “problem-solving” approach reflects poorly on the character of Cleveland. So typical, so disappointing. I wish I could afford to move. 🙁
And the cop checking farecards prior to boarding at Euclid and 14th tried to argue with me when I said it was unconstitutional. While RTA probably will argue that it’s different BEFORE boarding the deployment of officers smacks of some vindictiveness, especially since I watched about 5 wouldbe riders miss the bus due to the delay of the check.