Here is some more information on Chicago's law. It comes from Jack Blackfelt in Chicago via Joel Metz in San Francisco (digest 2.2) "Chicago police crackdown on messengers"
"that 4 years back, a law went on the books (with the encouragement of the owner of Arrow Messenger) requiring messengers to wear safety vests or brightly colored company shirts, 2 inch tall ID numbers on their bags, and helmets. Up until this past fall, these laws went widely unenforced, until Phyllis Applebaum, the owner of Arrow, felt the ordinance she helped write wasn’t being enforced enough . Combined with her weekly attendance to council meetings (+ Chicago-style politics ie CASH) and a new, over-zealous bicycle cop squad trying to prove the need for their existance, the clampdown began. The result? For the couriers, a up to 3 hour stay in detention, and for their packages, a stay in city custody for up to 3 days or more. What this translates to is an encouragement by the city for clients to switch to Arrow, which makes compliance with the law mandatory, from smaller, more lenient companies. 'After all, Arrow messengers won’t go to jail and have their packages confiscated'".
I have looked into Chicago's Messenger Ordinance and what I have found is , it is actually the messenger companies who are licensed not the messengers themselves. I don't understand where the police feel that this ordinance gives them the right to jail messengers. The only requirement that is the reponsibility of the messengers is to wear the vest and helmet and carry an identification card under subsections 4-168-070 and 4-168-080 (b). The penalty for violating these sections, under section 4-168-120 is "a fine of not less than $25.00 and not more than $500.00 for each such violation."
So the police are jailing messengers for three hours for something that may result in a $25 fine? The only mention of jail refers to the messenger company and only upon two or more convictions within 12 months.
According to the city itself "the vest number is not a licence for the courier. If the courier is stopped without numbers on his/her vest, the courier company is responsible and will be in jeopardy of loosing their license."
"Only couriers working in the business district and the near north side are required to wear helmets. They are only required to wear these helmets during work hours also. Other cyclists do not have a law requiring them to wear a helmet."
This ordinance is dangerously close to violating a person's civil and constitutional rights. It would appear to me that not only do police have to prove the offender is a courier but that he/she is working at that moment. Perhaps this is why they jail them. They are using the ordinance to harass. The scary thing is they could do it to anyone on a bike. They could say they found it necessary detain someone (who is obviously not working as a courier) in order to check them out. And once you leave the profession you could be jailed anytime you are on a bike downtown because you are now "marked". The police could use your former state of employment as grounds for the detainment.
According to the city itself there has been a recent crackdown on messengers with "strong enforcement of regulations this Spring (1997), with 100's of tickets issued to bike couriers. The tickets were about 90% in violation with the ordinance. The other 10% were traffic violations."
Chicago is "hoping to produce a training video for couriers in the next year or two" but this is dependant on grant funding. Perhaps the money would be better spent on a training video for the police.
Chicago is not unique. Each and every time I have looked at a city who licenses messengers in some way, the licensing leads to specific harassment of couriers. Police focus more on enforcing the license laws than the traffic laws. The general public doesn't seem to care because they mistakenly feel that messengers need to be brought in line and if civil or constitutional rights are violated - "hey so what?" But what happens when it is not just the minorities like messengers who are discriminated against? What about similar laws for other professions or other activities? What laws like this do is allow police to harass and imprison. If it keeps up anyone could be picked up and jailed at any time at the whim of one single police officer, while he/she "checks you out."
Click here for Chicago's Messenger Ordinance.
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at messvilleto@yahoo.com