Sidewalk Justice?

Justice run amuck or just plain stupidity. A recent NY Times article relates the story of a man charged with disorderly conduct for standing on a New York sidewalk. You read that correctly. A NY city cop actually cited one of the millions of tourists because he stopped on a side walk and numerous pedestrians had “to walk around them.”

Walk around? I’ll bet that just trashed everyone’s day. Probably added an extra 2-3 feet to everyone’s daily commute. Maybe costed other pedestrians an extra 2-3 seconds. I’ll bet New Yorkers have never seen a pedestrian stop on a sidewalk before- probably caused a crowd to gather just to watch a guy “not walk.” I wonder how many motorists slowed to watch. The cop probably caused a bigger disruption just writing the ticket- unless he wrote it while walking.

It’s not just that the charge itself was stupid but the fact that a judge took this seriously again raises doubts about whether anyone in the criminal justice system actually thinks- or even has a brain. I have to ask- would the guy have been charged if no one walked around him? How many people must walk around before stopping becomes disorderly conduct? If the guy was walking slowly but people walked around him would he have been disorderly? Finally, how was a tourist to know that such behavior as stopping on the sidewalk of a tourist destination was illegal (if in fact it is)? Was this some idiot cop with a bad attitude? Was the judge asleep while the charges were read?

Crackdown on crime should not jeopardize tourism in the greatest city on earth. I almost expect cops to behave badly. They’re underpaid, overworked, undereducated, and under-appreciated. Many times it seems as if they’re little more than adolescents with guns and badges. If it weren’t for the guns and badges you wouldn’t expect them to have mature judgment and insight.

But a judge is an entirely different matter. (S)He has many years of post-high school education. (S)He has experience as a lawyer. (S)He is supposed to have wisdom and insight. Clearly (s)he failed.

This is a waste of the tax dollars of the citizens of NY. Some district attorney is frittering away resources on “sidewalk crime” instead of trying to put away actual criminals.

Each reader should begin protesting this stupidity- first make a point of telling your professional organizations that you will not attend meetings in NYC. Then write to mayor Bloomberg. Just click on his name to go directly to the webpage.

This is idiocy.

~ by aegis1 on October 12, 2007.