Comments on: The purpose of despotic government…

By: Vitriol « eVerbosity

Vitriol « eVerbosity — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:31:01 +0000

[...] background for today’s word comes from a recent blog post by John Kuhner. Mr Kuhner was recently fined $50 by the Transit Police for resting his feet up [...]

By: pd

pd — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:31:38 +0000

I’ll bet what they where really after was not giving these tickets, but finding persons with outstanding warrants. 50 bucks a pop is nickel and dime compared to collecting on out of state warrants. and maybe just maybe the cops pocket it themselves..

just sayin

By: Knowing the rules underground :: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:58:58 +0000

[...] on this: Gothamist points us to a blog post by an Ulster County man who was visiting New York this weekend. John Kuhner complains about the way [...]

By: jbkuhner

jbkuhner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:39:09 +0000

I’ll respond here to my two best critics, Harry and Joe, regarding the “peon” comment. I am far less sensitive to insulting words than other people are, and do not mean offense here. I am a Queens native myself and my sympathies are entirely with the people who live in places that many others do not care about. Harry, I am most impressed that your experience of Queens does not carry with it the kind of class-war taint mine (and many of my friends’) has had; perhaps others can prove with various statistics that these kind of stings are done all over the city, but to me it felt like no surprise that I found these cops working Roosevelt Avenue and not Rockefeller Center. Manhattanites and tourists “count” a lot more than boroughs boys do. And I felt pretty strongly that these guys were getting peed on right in front of my eyes, and by cops who themselves probably grew up in the boroughs and did not in their hearts approve of what they were doing for this very reason.

By: rhubarbpie

rhubarbpie — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:28:08 +0000

Putting your feet on the seat is a violation of NYC Transit’s rules, yes. But, as your account makes clear, it’s enforced randomly and possibly in a discriminatory way. The desire is for revenue and to catch somewhat bigger fish, which I suspect happens pretty rarely. A more civil way of dealing with this would be what you’ve suggested — reminding people of the rules — but then what fun would that be? Then New York City might even be a somewhat more pleasant place to live, and we can’t have that.

(A side note: a scandal in the late 1980s had transit cops accusing men of crimes, like rubbing against women, just to increase their arrest count. A friend of mine was an alleged victim of such inappropriate behavior, even though she told the cops that nothing had happened.)

I don’t know how challenges work out, but I wish you luck.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:01:39 +0000

Great article. Unfortunate but it happened to me as well. Made me sick when it happened.
One gripe though . . . your line about Jackson heights and peons. Poor choice of words. That line wasn’t needed or could have been phrased differently. Thought to myself that statement alone deserves a $50 fine.

By: ryan

ryan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:25:57 +0000

I wouldn’t of gotten off the car until a uniformed police officer requested me to leave. If I was made to leave badge numbers would of been taken and follow up to superiors would of gone down Monday morning.

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:31:54 +0000

File a lawsuit; by not ticketing the women on the train, the officers were not treating everyone the same under the law, a violation of the equal protection clause. The only way to stop the police state from arbitrary enforcement of rules is to hit them where it counts, which obviously is in the city’s purse strings.

By: John

John — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:51:36 +0000

John–

I misunderstood your reason for fighting. I thought you either didn’t believe the cop who told you that your conduct violated the law or didn’t know of the law at the time you committed your violation. If you were aware that you were committing a violation, then you’ve got no business fighting the citation. It is a waste of the court’s valuable time and limited resources.

You seem to be offended by the fact that those “who were slouching, or leaning over another seat” received citations. Fighting your citation will in no way remedy their harm.

Finally, you seem to have taken offense to the fact that the citation generates revenue. That’s of course no defense to knowingly committing a violation of law.

Errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum

By: sb

sb — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:01:07 +0000

A friend of mine had this happen to her, but she didn’t leave the train. It was late at night and who knows if the cop was really a cop. Taking a single woman off an empty train for taking up two seats in the middle of the night is not only ridiculous, it’s unsafe. If these cops have nothing better to do, they shouldn’t have jobs.