CDR: Fucking cops (Put down those fries)

[George at Orwellian.Org]

 Girl Arrested for Eating Fries in Subway
 Police Cite 'Zero Tolerance' No-Food Rule

 Nov. 16, 2000

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The mother of a
 12-year-old girl who was
 handcuffed, booked and
 fingerprinted for eating french
 fries in a subway station says
 police went too far.

 "I can't believe there isn't a better way to teach kids
 a lesson," said Tracey Hedgepeth, whose daughter Ansche
 was arrested. "The police treated her like a criminal."

 But Metro Transit Police Chief Barry J. McDevitt is
 unapologetic about Ansche's arrest last month and
 others like it.

 "We really do believe in zero tolerance," he said.

 Undercover operation

 Commuter complaints about unlawful eating on Metro cars
 and in stations led McDevitt to mount an undercover
 crackdown on violators. A dozen plainclothes officers
 cited or arrested 35 people, 13 of them juveniles. Only
 one adult was arrested.

 The seventh-grade girl said the station in northwest
 Washington where she was nabbed is "just a place where
 a lot of kids go. There's a hot dog stand and Cafe Med,
 where I bought my fries."

 She said she took the elevator to the station with a
 friend. As the pair passed the station kiosk, a man
 stepped in front of Ansche.

 'Put down your fries'

 "He said: 'Put down your fries. Put down your book
 bag,'" Ansche said. "They searched my book bag and
 searched me. They asked me if I have any drugs or
 alcohol."

 Ansche said she has never been asked those questions or
 searched like that before. "I was embarrassed. I told
 my friend to call my mom, but I didn't tell anybody
 else," she said.

 She said she never talked to the officer, although
 Metro police insist that she was asked whether she knew
 eating was against the law and that she said she did.
 They said anyone who doesn't know about the law usually
 is given a warning first.

 Signs warning that it is illegal to eat or drink on the
 cars and in the stations are posted in the Metro
 system.

 Custody for juveniles

 She was taken to the detention center, where she was
 checked in, fingerprinted and held for her parents to
 pick her up.

 If Ansche had been an adult, she simply would have
 received citations for fines up to $300. But juveniles
 who commit criminal offenses in the District of
 Columbia must be taken into custody, McDevitt said.

 It is department policy to handcuff anyone who is
 arrested, no matter the age, he said.

 Ansche must perform community service and undergo
 counseling at the Boys and Girls Club, one of the
 sentences Metro has chosen for underage snacking
 lawbreakers.

 Bad trash problem

 McDevitt said the Tenleytown stop where the arrest
 occurred has had a particularly bad trash problem.

 "We had not only customers complaining," he said.
 "Train conductors were also complaining about how
 trashed their trains were, and they were asking for
 more enforcement."

 Hedgepeth said she agrees with sticking to the rules,
 but wonders why police couldn't issue warnings.

 "How do they expect kids to grow up trusting police?"
 she said. "My daughter will now grow up knowing she's
 been in handcuffs. All over a french fry."