Should Cops Spend Time Busting Jaywalkers?
Just in case you were skeptical that the new pedestrian safety initiative announced yesterday was real, check this post from the ustreetnews discussion group:
An Open Letter to Jim Graham,
The residents of Wallach Place recently met with you to discuss the need for police patrols in the vicinity of 13th and U. This is due to an increase in the number of break-ins, robberies and assaults on our block in the last few months.
This morning, police officers were handing out tickets to pedestrians, who were on their way to work, for stepping off the curb at 13th and U before the light turns green.
While pedestrian safety is important, is this the best allocation of 3D's resources at this time? Frankly, this taxpayer would have preferred to see those officers working on the prevention of more substantive crime.
This letter parrots perhaps the most common complaint ever leveled at cops: I saw a bunch of cops wasting their time with [INSERT MINOR QUALITY-OF-LIFE OFFENSE HERE], shouldn't you guys be solving murders or locking up drug dealers?
Well, for the most part, I call bullshit on such complaints, for the following reasons:
- These are cops on the street, who have a crime-deterrent effect merely being out there rather than inside a cruiser or station house.
- Unfortunately thanks to the vagaries of the U.S. Constitution and police bureaucracy, it's not realistic for your average patrol cop to stroll up to your average corner boy and throw cuffs on him, let alone track down violent offenders---your beef is with the department's criminal investigations unit, who I'm guessing aren't the guys sent down to write tickets.
- Sorry jaywalkers, but you broke the law---deal with it.
So I say, hell yeah, keep our boys in blue busy ticketing scofflaw pedestrians.
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10:27 am
I'm neither here nor there on ticketing jaywalkers. If you're dumb enough to stroll across the street against the light with a cop standing there, you get what you deserve, but I'd rather they cops ticketed people who are actually causing a safety problem - like the 3rd car to run through the red light after it changes. I can't ever remember seeing someone pulled over in DC for running a red light, despite watching them do it right in front of a cop time after time. DC is perfectly content to rake in the bucks from the traffic cameras, but I think it would send a stronger message if people had even the slightest fear of police enforcing traffic violations. Which they currently don't.
But anyway, I find the timing of this activity highly coincidental with several highly-publicized pedestrian fatalities at the hands of Metrobus drivers. Is the message here, it's your own damn fault, pedestrians?
12:48 pm
I agree, if you are dumb enough to step into the crosswalk while a cop is right there...you deserve a ticket. Yes, it is breaking the law...big deal. I'm not on the bandwagon that "cops got better things to do" but they should at least do what they are expected to do: protect the public. I sit 8 floors up, over starbucks in Dupont. Most days I watch as a big cop stands there on 18th and N, dishing out tickets (here's here now!).
But, this is merely a revenue generating scam by the district. Plain and simple. He is here, next to starbucks, busting only guys in ties, women in suits, generally not so threatening folks. He lets people jaywalk on every one of the other 6 crosswalks within his view, to include people with their strollers, headsets, and little kids in their arms. He isn't protecting anyone, he's merely a guy w/ a gun and radio, generating 250/hr for the government, nothing more. If he was really trying to uphold the law on this corner, he would do it on every corner within his eye shot. He gives out tickets and people behind him simply walk past, jaywalking...The offender, who is busted points, shouts says "hey look they doing it too" but he cares not...just head down..writing tickets. he calls people back in the middle of the intersection, causing them to stop, try to comprehend, and spend at least 3-5 seconds in the intersection. Is This protecting the public or generating revenue without any regards for safety?
It drizzled a little today. and the minute the drops came, he ran into his car until the drops stopped coming. Now he's back, o..and some sedan just blew by at 50 mph in the 25mph that 18th street is...