NYPD negotiating the fine line of subway ‘crime’
You don’t want to go there. (Courtesy of flickr user Joshua S)
Did you know that it is illegal to move in between subway cars unless instructed to do so? Did you know that the police will ticket you for this offense? Well, if you were a reader of mine on March 5, you knew that.
But based on the number of search hits I get for people looking for information on subway summons, odds are you didn’t know that.
Well, it’s true; the police can - and do - ticket straphangers who are moving between cars, and they are, Chuck Bennett reports, issuing more summonses this year than before.
Transit cops are busting more subway predators on the prowl, leading to a 27 percent jump in the number of arrests this year.
That’s because NYPD brass have ordered subway cops to crack down on quality of life offenses like walking between cars, smoking and jumping turnstiles. That sweep is leading police to more serious criminals, turning up weapons and people with outstanding warrants.
According to NYPD figures, cops have given out 1953 summonses this year; each carry a fine of $75. That’s a quick way to collect $146,475.
The MTA and the NYPD outlawed moving between cars in December of 2005, and last year, cops issued 3600 summonses. Through the first three months of 2007, subway riders are on pace to receive nearly 6000 tickets this year for what the MTA calls “outside riding.”
So check your surroundings before moving in between cars. You never know who’s on the other side (or in plain clothes) waiting to slap you with a $75 ticket.
why can’t they do something more productive like go fight crime?
I’m all for the cops normally, but when my friend was pulled out of an almost entirely empty subway car and written a ticket for having his (clean) foot up on a seat, well, I’m a little jaded now.
How the hell is it a quality of life offense to move in between cars? It’s very common that you want to go to a different car if you feel uncomfortable.
Got one today. They really do it. And while they were writing me the ticket they let an obviously drunk person walk right by. At 12 noon. Yup.
what’s really funny is how they enable the so called “crime” on the l train for example by continuing to leave the door unlocked. but they’re right, the pigs, because they have the freaking guns…bastards, all of them. the only good one is a dead one.
and we’re seriously retarded for tolerating it. between the crap law enforcement pulls and the crap politicians and the privately owned international bank that calls itself the federal reserve and the illegal, unconstitutional 16th amendment that illegally reverses the constitutionally required apportionment of federal taxation, and the gold seizure of 1933, and the patriot act and the dhs, irs, fbi, cia, dea, atf, and, hell, you get the idea…
whatever. i hope the world of hu-man comes to its speedy and inevitable end soon. wake up, world, or one day, you’ll wake up with damned rfid chips in your arms.