things that matter

A California Police Department Shut Down Street Vendors and “Bragged” about it on Twitter

San Bernardino Police Department
By August 17, 2015 at 2:27 pm

Did you have a good weekend? Fruteros and flower vendors in San Bernardino, California didn’t. The San Bernardino Police Department spent its weekend shutting down street vendors throughout the city. After posting photos of the crackdown on its official Twitter, the department began getting more attention than it bargained for.

Here are some “community policing specialists” removing vendors from their spot…

A truck bed full of confiscated flowers…

A frutero having his fruit taken away…

READ: Was It Murder? Video of Police Shooting an Unarmed Latino Man Sparks Debate

And some more flowers…

The SBPD’s social media strategy led to lots of sarcastic applause:

*Slow clap*

Others were a little more direct:

Jason Gomez captured one of the “crackdowns” on video and posted it to his Facebook.

Screen Shot 2015-08-17 at 1.55.41 PM
Credit: Jason Gomez / Facebook

Gomez wrote: “Some fucked up shit that I seen like 20 mins ago. the city took this hard working man just trying to make some money for his family fruit away why can’t they just let him be or tell him to go home or something instead of taking his stuff away. San Bernardino is so fucked up, there’s other bad situations going on in the city and they decide to do this.”

Gomez then vocalized what many people felt:

messed-up-1
Credit: Jason Gomez / Facebook
drugs-frutero san-bernardino-pd-3

Throughout the video, Gomez expresses his frustration to the police, who say they are only confiscating the vendor’s fruit, not his cart. Gomez wonders why the San Bernardino PD are spending resources on street vendors instead of serious crime.

According to the Los Angeles Times, San Bernardino is the “poorest city of its size” in California (population 213, 708).

What do you think about the San Bernardino Police Department’s crackdown on street vendors? Let us know in the comments below. 

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