Photo by Bfraz via Flickr circa 1975
Harking back to the “broken windows” theory, transit cops have found that folks illegally walking between subway cars are often up to no good, the Daily News found. A lot of them were even packing guns.
But, the jump from 3,600 tickets from walking between subway cars last year – up from 700 in 2005 – can’t all be explained by gun-packing criminals.
Download official NYC Transit summonses data here: Download file
And, NYC Transit finally figured out why it’s becoming tougher to beat a summons.
Last week, amNY reported:
Last year, just 3,778 people beat their summons at the Transit Adjudication Bureau, a court-like system where straphangers can argue their case before an impartial arbitrator.
In 2005, by contrast, 6,121 people won dismissals. Yet, nearly the same amount of people challenged their tickets -- 24,873 in 2005 and 23,202 in 2006.
NYC Transit spokesman now James Anyani says, “Cops are writing better tickets.” He said many people were getting off on technicalities, such as an officer forgetting to fill in the year or forgetting to check a box.
-- Chuck Bennett
