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Tampa Bay Beat

by Jim Bleyer

Janet Cruz

Inquiry to Mayoral Candidate Jane Castor on Potential Civil Rights Violation Claims Against the City of Tampa

Florida You Judge.com emailed the following inquiry to Tampa mayoral candidate, Jane Castor.  Should Ms. Castor have any response to the inquiry, the blog post will be updated with inclusion of Castor’s response.  Mayor Bob Buckhorn was copied in the email and asked whether he would like to offer any comment.

Good afternoon Ms. Castor,

I wanted to inquire for Florida You Judge.com about the following issue:

• On April 17, 2015, the Tampa Bay Times published an article titled, “How riding your bike can land you in trouble with cops-if you’re black” The agency you formally led was charged with racially profiling black people while they rode their bikes.
• On April 23, 2015, you as Tampa’s chief of police, strongly disputed that allegation made by the Tampa Bay Times, “Jane Castor strongly disputes biking while-black story” and “Jane Castor mostly unrepentant as she goes before Tampa City Council on “biking while black” controversy.”
• On April 23, 2015, an article was published after you and Mayor Bob Buckhorn invited the Department of Justice to step in and investigate to see if maybe there was something you were missing on the racial profiling assertion, “Bike Citations in Tampa under Justice Dept microscope”
• On April 27, 2016, the DOJ concluded that TPD under your leadership, was burdening blacks without any benefit. “Federal Report: Tampa police bike tickets burden blacks, have no benefit.”
• After the DOJ submitted this report, you did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in the bike program practice nor offer an apology to the black community.
• On April 12, 2018, a week before you announced you were running for Mayor of Tampa and 3 years after assertions that your agency was burdening blacks without any public safety benefit, you told TBT that your bike program was wrong, “Carlton: Jane Castor now says biking while-black tickets were wrong” 
• My inquiry is the following: Since your recent acknowledgement that in fact your bike program was wrong, is it now your position that those black persons, who were burdened and had their civil rights violated, should now seek potential legal claims against the city of Tampa? Mayor Buckhorn, I would be interested in hearing what your position is as well.
  Ms. Castor, would you be interested in participating in a brief online segment on Florida You Judge in order to address this issue and speak to the black community on whether those who suffered civil rights deprivations under your former bike program should receive legal redress for harms they wrongfully suffered by the city of Tampa?