I read with interest the essay of National Review columnist Kyle Smith about the response of the Starbucks coffee drink company to reports that one of their employees summoned Philadelphia’s municipal law enforcement authorities in response to the presence of two men at one of their Rittenhouse Square coffee drink locations. He writes:
“We can all easily imagine circumstances in which a manager of a coffee shop or restaurant might properly call the police to ask them to remove loiterers. These are places of business. There’s nothing wrong in principle with calling the cops on non-customers who are taking up space. And there’s nothing wrong with police asking people to leave private property where they aren’t welcome, given that trespassing is a crime. When such people refuse, that’s unfortunate, but what can the police do but arrest them?”
I am glad Mr. Smith asked this question, because it’s precisely the question people on both the left and the right should be asking about how we should be expected to deal with one another.
An Anecdote
In my late 20’s, I was a graduate student in Providence, Rhode Island. Without expressing any unwarranted prejudice against the people of Rhode Island, it is a den of villainy. Nowhere was this more perfectly expressed than in the taxi industry, which was populated exclusively with the worst people in Rhode Island, and perhaps in all of New England.
If you’re from Rhode Island, then I suppose you get pretty used to the way your taxi drivers abuse their passengers, but if you’re not from Rhode Island, it gets very old, very fast.
One day, I flew into T. F. Green International Airport (named, hilariously, after the guy President Johnson is intimidating in the famous picture of his manhood), and taxis were in short supply. The taxi jockey at the airport insisted on putting multiple people into the same cab in order to move the line along. I was seated with a fellow going to the Providence Marriott, perhaps a half mile from my apartment. After dropping off the first passenger, and being paid by him, the driver continued to my apartment, where I handed him the difference between the final fare and the fare as of the first passenger’s arrival at the Marriott.
The driver was not amused. He insisted that I owed him half the fare to the Marriott, plus the additional distance he’d driven me. When I told him I wasn’t paying him that, he said he’d call the police, and I told him I’d wait up in my apartment.
He really did call the police! And when the police car finally pulled up 20-30 minutes later, I went downstairs and explained the situation to him. The cop patiently listened to us both, and understood both sides:
- On the one hand, why should I pay for somebody else’s trip to the Providence Marriott, which took me out of my way home?
- On the other hand, why should I get a free trip downtown from the airport and only pay for the last half-mile of the trip?
But you know what the cop did? Nothing. He listened to both sides, he understood what both of us were saying, and he didn’t arrest anybody at all.
The police don’t have to arrest anybody
Was I “stealing” from my taxi driver by not paying what he thought I should for my share of my ride from the airport? Maybe!
Were the two Philadelphia Starbucks patrons “trespassing” by sitting at a table for a few minutes before the manager called the police? Maybe!
We can use whatever legalisms we want to describe particular situations, whether it’s theft, trespassing, vandalism, loitering, or jaywalking, without insisting that the police have no choice but to arrest us, incarcerate us, and immiserate us.
They always have a choice, and best of all, they work for us. Which means, like it or not, that it’s up to us to do something about it.
I used to work at Starbuck’s in Hawaii and white people loiter as much as anybody else. We used to have these white privilege military brats destroy our patio area and abuse our bathrooms. Even though I wanted to call the cops and kick people out-I never did. I’m pretty sure the manager had inherent racist bias and that is why the police were called. If Starbucks has a defined policy that is always and equally enforced, that people must buy something in order to stay in the store, then the store and manager are off the hook. Starbuck’s clearly doesn’t have a policy and people meet up all the time in the store and may eventually buy something…or not. I never called the police on the bratty white kids because I was never told that was an option. So clearly, it’s not.
talk about being racist. your comments sure look racist. just because you didnt i have seen many in NY both black and white being escorted out by cops because a place of businesses called the police for loitering. so just because you didn’t dosent mean you shouldnt have no matter what the race. the guys were asked to leave and REFUSED. the police asked them to leave and they REfused. so they were trespassing. yea it was a waste of the police time but what about those who paid for coffee and had no where to sir because of loiterers. they could have easily bought a small regular coffee for $2-$3 if this meeting was that important to them.
Yeah, but two minutes? Really? If you’re going to do this, at least make the show of doing a receipt or cup check of everyone in the room. McDonald’s often posts a set time limit and they can just point to the sign if anyone dawdles too long.
IF a crime had been committed in your scenario (big IF), that crime happened in the past. The Starbucks incident was an ongoing crime, making it significantly harder for the cops to do nothing. This incident is clearly on the Starbucks employee.
Ben,
On the contrary, in my “scenario” the crime was ongoing. I was refusing to pay the cab driver what he said I owed him. If he was right, that would be theft, just like it would be if I tried to walk out of a shoe store without paying for my shoes or walk out of a bar without paying for my drinks. The difference is the behavior of the cop, who decided not to arrest me, instead of to arrest me.
—Indy
It always makes me laugh when someone says the police work for them. People say Ithe police work for them because they pay taxes. Does that mean that as a taxpayer herself, an officer is self-employed? Of course, it doesn’t.
They don’t work for you. They work to protect you and to enforce the law. It is absolutely impossible to make everybody happy when performing that sad thankless job. We all know this to be true but when we are unhappy we seek to place blame. Why not blame the police who did their job? It’s so easy to say that. The analogy you presented is in no way analogous. The trespassing was “actually taking place” as long as the manager said she wanted those men out. The issue was cut and dry. They had to leave and they refused. The police really didn’t have a choice. When this story broke, I was disgusted by it. Specifically by the manager who made such a reprehensible decision in singling out those men and treating them the way she did. But I also was sickened by the thought of those officers doing their job and becoming the center of another race story that was not caused by them. Polie don’t interpret the law. They enforce it. Even when it isn’t popular.
Sway,
Instead of putting words in your mouth, let me ask you, who do you think the police work for?
—Indy
Could you finish your anecdote and let us know what happened? Did you end up paying the cabbie more? Did the cop just listen and walk away and you went back up to your apartment and the cabbie was just angry? What happened man??
Bob,
Sorry about that! After listening to both sides of the story, the cop sat in his car waiting for us to resolve our problem. I had been offering the cabbie $10 for the short ride from the Marriott to my apartment, which he had refused, since he wanted $40-50 for the entire ride from the airport to my apartment.
With the cop there “mediating” our “dispute,” I offered the cabbie $20, which he balled up and threw on the ground in disgust at my cheapness and dishonesty. He then got back in his car, I picked up the $20, went back up to my apartment, and the cop drove off.
—Indy