How to protect street vendors from attacks and hate crimes?

Street vendors are prime targets for muggers looking for quick and easy money, but they are also often the target of hate-motivated attacks. But how can they protect themselves from these crimes, which, according to the LAPD, are becoming more repetitive and violent.

Teresa Cruz, grandmother of a street vendor, was the victim of an April 3 attack in the Lincoln Heights area of ​​Los Angeles. The intruder not only stole the jewelry she was selling, but also left her completely unconscious. shock.

“My grandma has some health issues and bad knees, she couldn’t do anything to protect herself,” her granddaughter Emily Jacobo Diaz wrote in a fundraising account she set up for her on GoFundMe in the “Protect Your Street People” section. merchants.” vendors in Spanish).

The robber came to her the day before to find out the price of her goods.

On March 18 in San Jose, California, Carlos Sanchez Sanchez, a street vendor from San Jose, California, was the victim of a hate attack when an auto parts store owner attacked him with a baseball bat when he didn’t like what I was selling on the street fried chicken and ribs.

“I came to this country in search of a better life for my family,” he said in an interview with the publication. Opinion.

After the beating, Carlos called the police, who drew up a protocol and took the attacker into custody.

violent and frequent

The Los Angeles Police Department reported 158 crimes against street vendors between January 1 and July 31, 2022. During the same period in 2020, 102 crimes were registered; in 2020 85; in 2019 105 and in 2018 72.

Crimes are becoming more frequent and more violent, according to the LAPD. Between January and July, the seller was attacked with deadly weapons 29 times; and another was stolen 54 times, which is alarming compared to 31 lethal attacks in all of 2021.

On August 15, 2022, a man smashed a vendor’s fruit cart in Woodland Hills with an axe. On July 4, in Harvard Park in south Los Angeles, a salesperson was attacked by a prospective buyer who became enraged at having to wait and spit out equipment and food.

Both attackers have already attacked other sellers.

Hispanics accounted for 88% of all crimes against vendors in the first months of 2022; and the areas with the most attacks in Los Angeles are Westlake, downtown, Florence, and Pico Union.

How to prevent crime

Los Angeles Police Department Commander German Hurtado said the most important thing is for the supply communities to keep an eye on each other.

“It’s also very important that when they’re going to give change to their customers, they don’t teach too much. happeningh (cash). On the occasions when they have a good sales day, the relative goes and collects the money for them.”

He said that it was preferable not to attract the attention of thieves by showing bundles of money.

“They also need to settle in places with lots of light and avoid residential areas where there are likely to be people who don’t need them because, for example, the smoke from what they cook gets into their homes.”

He also recommended that the seller interact and live with his neighbors around him so that they would protect each other.

“It’s convenient that businesses that sell the same thing that they offer on the street are not flaunted in order to avoid conflicts with reputable merchants.”

Another good piece of advice that Commander Hurtado gives to street vendors is to buy body cameras like those used by the police themselves.

“They don’t cost much and can be very useful during an attack or aggression to identify the aggressor.”

He said that he also witnessed lawsuits between fellow street vendors on the corners, so he thinks they should negotiate among themselves to avoid violence out of envy.

And in the event of an attack or hate crime, it is extremely important to call the police and report it.

“The police will never ask them about their immigration status. So they need to be sure.”

He expressed regret that in many cases these crimes, be they hate crimes or robberies, are not reported to the police for fear of lack of immigration papers.

He concluded by saying that The best tips to prevent theft are body-worn video cameras, establish surveillance of the vendors themselves, don’t bring in a lot of money and don’t flaunt it, stay in areas with lots of light.

Commander Hurtado said that most of those who rob street vendors are drug addicts looking for quick and easy money; and hate crimes are committed by people who know they are vulnerable because they think they are undocumented.

Story against street vendors

Sergio Jimenez, Lead Street Trade Organizer Community Power Collectivesaid that crimes against street food vendors begin when they are not seen as a traditional restaurant, but somehow belittled.

“Most are immigrants and women of pain. This encourages widespread violence, including from law enforcement who, instead of protecting them, are only focused on law enforcement.”

What they have done as an organization, he said, is to teach them their rights, to get rid of the fear of recording the violent acts they suffer.

“Crimes against salespeople are a deeply rooted chronic problem, so we taught them to understand that an attack on one is an attack on all.”

They also meet people on the street who don’t like street vendors and don’t understand that these vendors only go out to make a living and feed their communities.

“Organization and unity are the best weapons that salespeople have against crime. We have already organized 2100 sellers in 38 areas of the city of Los Angeles.“.

He clarifies that there is no census of vendors in the city and county of Los Angeles, but the truth is that there are more of them every day because people who have lost their jobs are joining the street vendors.

According to California law, street vendors are legal. In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 972, which removed the final legal hurdle for street vendors to obtain permits to sell food from stalls and carts.