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Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ace_O_Spades
I'm sorry, I'll clarify what I was trying to say for you:
Reactive policing means an incident occurs, then someone witnesses it and reacts. If they have authority, they will react on the spot, if they don't, they have to contact someone with authority.
Proactive policing means initiatives that aim to reduce crime before it happens. IE: more streetlights, cameras, police patrols, etc.
In the case of the bus, the NO FOOD law is there as a proactive measure to deter people from littering etc. on the bus. As we all know, this is not very effective.
Too many proactive laws, such as dog leash laws, no food/drink laws, no smoking laws, laws stating French signs must be twice as big as English signs in Quebec, laws about littering, are a means to control incivilities.
The broken window theory is an aim to control incivility, but it is a reactive approach in that you must have a broken window before you can control it.
So if reactive approaches such as the broken window theory and proactive laws like the no food/drink laws work at essentially the same level of effectiveness, why not just have fewer redundant laws which could be controlled instead by the temperance and mediation of a police officer or other authority figure with all factors taken into account.
If that were the case, the police officer could have simply made the boy throw out the lollipop instead of being obligated by the law that states a $300 ticket must be issued. This just adds more paperwork to our horribly bureaucratized judicial system.
Due process vs. crime control... the struggle continues.
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I'll use the area around the bus stop as an example of how it's not effective in a city of 8 million people.
There bus stop is the end of the line, it's located in a T intersection with the bus facing eastward towards a highway, service road, and exit from highway, so the light is a 3 way light. The middle divider is painted with 2 double yellow lines with white stripes in the middle simulating a concrete island. The bus stop is labeled CLEARLY No Parking/No Standing (standing means car idling with someone waiting inside the car.) There's signage for No U-turns on the exit and service road is one way so the only way to gain westward access it to turn right from either the service road or highway exit. This area is about as big as 2 maybe 3 football fields. We have double length articulated buses at this stop, they are 60 feet long.
People make U-turns from the eastbound side all the time, causing potential accidents and causing delays. Pedestrians are at risk all the time because of they are looking for traffic coming from the highway not from people making u-turns legal or not. Everyone living on the other side of the street about 2,800 families have to cross the street.
People stand in the bus stop area all the time. This is the end of the line, bus drivers frequently park their buses for their breaks, when they cannot put the bus into the extra long bus stop that can accommodate 2 articulated and 1 regular bus, it forces the buses to double park. This in turn forces eastbound traffic to now pass on the median and potential even onto the other side of the street. One night a car service picked up a woman and got locked in by the double parked bus, the woman was furious because the driver would not move the bus (it's not easy maneuvering a 60 foot bus on small streets) and did not return from his break for about 15 minutes. The lady ranted all about how there must be some law that is being broken, and someone kindly pointed out to her that the driver of her car service was the one at fault since he was standing in the bus zone. More effects of the bus double parked are that when it leaves I have to leave the curbside, while I'm able bodied, what about the elderly and handicapped? There's plenty of them in this neighborhood and buses are an essential mode of transport for them because the subways have stairs and are not all ADA compliant yet.
So what has to happen? The 7th precinct once in a while sends a man in blue to stand on the corner... does he ticket anyone? not usually but I'm sure that once in a while he does. Now according to your theory he should be doing something else... but some of these issues impact my quality of life as equally as laws impinge on your sense of quality of life.
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