Transit system refuses to release video of criminals in a spate of robberies -- you can guess why

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system -- or BART -- in the San Francisco, California, area has suffered a string of crimes lately. Groups of four to sixty teenagers have robbed passengers on the train three times since the end of April.

BART will not turn over video of the attacks because, according to what Debora Allen of the BART board of directors reports she was told, "To release these videos would create a high level of racially insensitive commentary toward the district, and in addition, it would create a racial bias in the riders against minorities on the trains.”

Allen had asked why race even plays a role in the release of information. BART Assistant General Manager Kerry Hamill responded that BART might be construed as "sensationalizing relatively minor crimes and perpetuating false stereotypes in the process."

Mike Slater said on this weekend's "Mike Slater Show" that not releasing the videos sends the message that it is safer for people of color to commit crimes. This in turn makes passengers even more wary of them, having the opposite effect Hamill intended.

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