Are you relatively new to this bustling metropolis? Don't be shy about it, everyone was new to New York once upon a time, except, of course, those battle-hardened residents who've lived here their whole lives and Know It All. One of these lifers works among us at Gothamist—publisher Jake Dobkin grew up in Park Slope and still resides there. He is now fielding questions—ask him anything by sending an email here, but be advised that Dobkin is "not sure you guys will be able to handle my realness." We can keep you anonymous if you prefer; just let us know what neighborhood you live in.
This week's question comes from a New Yorker who's fed up with the NYPD "slowdown."
Dear Native New Yorker,
Since the cops decided to stop ticketing, my block is totally blocked up by double parked cars. There's a police station right around the corner, and plenty of cops walking around, but I haven't seen one ticket in like three weeks. It's really annoying, because the street sweepers can't get through and I'm worried if there's a fire or someone has a heart attack the fire trucks and ambulances won't be able to get through either.
I'm not political. I just want these guys to do their jobs. What do you think: is it right for these cops to be striking like this?
Sincerely,
Cop Blocked in Kensington
A native New Yorker responds:
Dear Cop Blocked,
You know shit is topsy-turvy when New Yorkers are complaining about cops NOT writing tickets to people. You'd think there'd be a little more gratitude and relief, given these tickets are basically a $800MM yearly tax that disproportionately affects poor people in the outer boroughs.
I do agree that saving $115 on a ticket isn't going to cheer you up that much if you're the guy burning to death in a fire because the ladder truck can't get through, or if you get stabbed with a hypodermic needle by a squeegee guy because they realize that no one is going to get arrested for that right now. Then you'd definitely have grounds to complain.
Do you have any sympathy for the cops? I do. It seems to me that most cops are regular New York native types trying to do their job and get home to their families, and seeing two cops get assassinated while just sitting in a squad car is legitimate grounds for them to be upset, angry, and scared, and be a little behind on clearing your street of double parked cars.
When you ask "is it right?" for these cops to be staging a ticket slowdown, I think you're asking the wrong question. Right and wrong depend on where you're standing. From your perspective, as a hard working taxpayer who just wants the cops to do their goddamn jobs, of course it's wrong. For their perspective, as cops who are scared shitless of getting killed, or (maybe more realistically) exercising their god-given right to give the mayor a hard time and negotiate a better union contract, it's perfectly right.
Saul Alinksy talked about this in Rules for Radicals:
The end is what you want, the means is how you get it. Whenever we think about social change, the question of means and ends arises. The man of action views the issue of means and ends in pragmatic and strategic terms. He has no other problem; he thinks only of his actual resources and the possibilities of various choices of action. He asks of ends only whether they are achievable and worth the cost; of means, only whether they will work... The real arena is corrupt and bloody.
It's funny to think about Patrick Lynch and the other police union leaders reading Alinksy, but you can't understand anything that happens in New York City politics except as an expression of conflicting interest groups using any means available to get what they want. In this case, the police want two things: respect and money, and they feel that a work slowdown is the best way to go about getting it.
Is that true? From a labor perspective it seems unwise. Either the city keeps functioning (with more double parked cars), and all they've done is proven we don't need so many tickets—or so many cops—or crime does shoot back up, and then it's easy for the Mayor to blame the police for endangering the city, and with the support of public opinion, take a much harsher negotiation stance on the contract. No one likes being extorted!
It's also very unzen to get so hung up on "respect." All New Yorkers respect good cops and appreciate them doing their jobs and keeping us safe for marauding criminals on the subway and in the streets. We're just uncool with the bad cops, the careless or dangerous ones who occasionally kill innocent people for no reason.
Those guys we don't respect, and no amount of bullying is going to get us to respect them. You can bully someone into fearing you, but respect has to be earned. And so, at least on that score, this tactic seems doomed to backfire.
This is already becoming obvious to the police unions, who have begun a slow retreat towards normal policing. The mayor also seems inclined to de-escalate, and so things will soon be getting back to normal around here, or at least to the normal low level of hostility between the mayor and the police, and the police and public, that was in place before. What would it take to change that?
How about a compromise? The police agree to wear cameras and do some "no strangling" retraining, and the mayor agrees to the same package of reasonable contract amendments that he's recently given to the teachers and other unions. For our part, the public agrees to nod politely at cops, as long as they're not choking us for no reason. Was that so hard?
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