Good-bye broken windows policing, hello public urination!
In a move to enhance the quality of life in a great urban center, New York's City Council has passed an act that means citizens can litter, loiter and urinate in the streets. Talk about promoting civility!
The New York Post reports:
New legislation dubbed the “Criminal Justice Reform Act” was passed by lawmakers Wednesday, giving miscreants a get-out-of-jail-free card by eliminating the criminal penalties on a raft of quality-of-life crimes.
The disgusting and disturbing acts that the council voted to decriminalize include drinking alcohol out of a paper bag, lurking in parks after hours, urinating in the street and making enough of a racket to violate the noise code.
Under the legislation, which Mayor de Blasio is expected to sign, offenders will face only civil summonses instead of criminal citations.
The main part of the “reform” act sponsored by council Speaker Melissa Mark- Viverito deals with reducing the penalty for public urination and other quality-of-life offenses. It passed by a 40-to-9 vote in the liberal-leaning council.
It aims to keep offenders from getting a permanent criminal record and requires the NYPD to “develop guidance” for cops on when to issue criminal instead of civil summonses.
But people who repeatedly drink alcohol out of a paper bag, lurk in parks or urinate in public should have records.
Does it seem to you that lately we've seen elected officials taking actions that make life harder for law-abiding citizens by making it easier for those who disrupt?