“Skateboarding is not a crime.” seems to be a popular meme of the bumper sticker/t-shirt variety. I’m not sure I fully understand why it is necessary to state this. Are there jurisdictions where riding a skateboard in a public area is an actual traffic or criminal offense (e.g. “Next case, People v. Jones - charge, ‘Operating a skateboard or other unlawful vehicle on a public street - 2nd or subsequent offense’. How do you plead, Mr. Jones?”), or is it more that police in some areas associate skateboarders with nefarious activity and tend to harass skateboard riders, are quicker to make a stop or an arrest if a person is riding a skateboard, or, when investigating a crime where there are two suspects, a skateboarder and a non-skateboarder, the police are likely to question the skateboarder first?
That’s an old saying, I can remember that bumper sticker being around in the 80’s (or at least the 90’s). I think think it came about because skateboarding (and the whole grunge movement) was a counter-culture thing and as you said, people were quick to pass judgment. I always figured the bumper stickers were meant as a little reminder that just because someone was skateboarding didn’t mean they were doing something wrong.
I’d imagine that skateboarding probably is restricted on sidewalks in many urban areas, especially on business property, leading to skateboarders getting routinely hassled when they are trying to go down handrails and stairs.
But even if skateboarding isn’t a crime, I can still disallow skaters from skating on my property. If they think they can continue to do it by telling me ‘skateboarding is not a crime’ that doesn’t really show intellect but rather ignorance of the law.
IANAL.
Perhaps, but the gravamen of the offense is not skateboarding, it’s trespassing. If I make a rule that playing tiddlywinks on my property is not allowed and tell tiddlywinks players to get lost, that doesn’t create an “Unlawfully playing tiddlywinks - Misdemeanor” offense. It’s just a property rights thing.
The point of the slogan is that skateboarding generally isn’t prohibited, but many people assume that it is (“you can’t skate here!” - actually you can). Mostly civilians, but occasionally police.
Well, nobody’s calling skaters intelligentsia either.
Even when I used to (briefly) skate, I always thought “Skateboarding is not a Crime” to be an attempt to overblow the hassle skaters take to feel more like a put-upon brotherhood. It’s one of those things that gets repeated because it feeds the desire for skaters to feel like outlaws.
I figured that skateboarders felt they were being harassed by police even when they weren’t doing anything illegal. Sort of the equivalent of “being black is not a crime” or “having long hair is not a crime”.
I can confirm the slogan was used in the early 1980s. Skaters were often hassled by police for riding on sidewalks, public streets, in parking lots, parks, etc. It was a reaction by the sub-culture to oppression, both real and perceived.
If skateboarders were generally responsible, mature, people who were out for an afternoon of exercise and fun, skateboarding wouldn’t have the reputation among adults and LEOs that I think it has. The real problem is that the majority of skateboarders appear to be bored, disaffected teens with nothing to do and an attitude. That can lead to trouble that, quite naturally even if unfairly, gets linked to skateboarding.
This is based on my own experience with skateboarders, both from my own childhood and recently. YMMV.
That’s true in my jurisdiction. Most of the banks and other downtown businesses with stairs/rails/sidewalks, etc. have signs posted warning that skateboarding is not allowed on the property. If necessary, local police will respond to a complaint and may make an arrest for trespassing.
Skateboarders seem to think such restrictions are “The Man” coming down on them. They’re wrong. The reason so many businesses don’t want skateboarders is because “The Man” doesn’t want to get his ass sued off when some kid mangles himself or someone else on their property.
Actually in many places the “crime” of skateboarders is property damage. You can’t believe how much concrete is scraped off curbs and steps in places where boarders congregate. Also I’ve seen damage to handrails on stairs, tile flooring in building entryways, etc. Some boarders seem to take pride in grinding down the edges of stairs. So while they may not like the fact that property owners and cities say No Skateboarding, they are somewhat bringing it on themselves. (To say nothing of the excitement aroused in a pedestrian when one suddenly comes up behind and slides past on the sidewalk going way faster than the walker.) Using some uncommon “common” sense would be a good idea if boarders want places to stop banning them.
And the choice for builders of any kind of public space seems increasingly to be to live with that damage or look for ways to prevent it. Google Image search “skateboard blockers” for an idea of the uglification that gets done to prevent damage.
I don’t know if it’s a crime, but when some idiot is practicing (attempting) ollies over and over again so loudly directly outside my office for hours–to the point where I can’t hear conversations on the phone–then I get pretty close to committing a crime myself.
Even if he actually did get it right eventually (and I have to wonder if that’s even an accomplishment)–the fact that it took him two weeks should be punishable.
Here in my current neck of the woods there is a building renovated for skateboarders. It has ramps, half-pipes, etc. and is usually packed. It keeps the kids from doing damage to other people’s property and gives them a safe place to hang out, away from parks and such.
Just because you only notice people who are skating that you object to does not mean there are not lots of skaters who use it as an effective and fast form of transportation.
The bumper stickers were in response to several movements to ban skateboarding due to this form of selection bias.
There are some skateboarders who destroy property and these are the individuals who these laws were directed towards, but not all skaters vandalize property.
I personally have never vandalized property despite using a skateboard as an effective portable transportation device for over a quarter of a century.
I prefer to skate than bike because you do not need to secure a skateboard like a bike, also in my city buses only have 1 to 3 bike positions, so if you are commuting it is difficult to depend on a bus leg if you need to be some place on time. I can just walk on with my board in hand.
My current job is impractical to skate/bike/bus to so I drive but when I was skating to work it was not uncommon for me to keep up with and or pass bikes on the bike path.
However, the knee jerk broad banning of skateboards makes this difficult in many locations thus the “skateboarding is not a crime” stickers.
The remarkable thing about skateboarders is that they all seem to have video cameras.
This video shows two incidents where skateboarders are being arrested on the street. In the first incident at about 1:45 the police officer has a skateboarder in cuffs and is advising the group that skateboarding is illegal anywhere within the City or County of San Francisco. In the second arrest, the skateboarders are apparently being arrested for moving sewer grates.
You can find hundreds of youtube videos of skateboarders having run ins with the police. The theme is usually the same: Officer arrives and tells them to stop skateboarding (whether on public or private property), one or more members of the group mouth off to the officer, the officer arrests them and sometimes roughs them up.