It Really Is the Little Things that Matter

That is what New York's Broken Windows strategy was all about. Stop the small crimes, and the criminals won't get to the big crimes. Unfortunately the NYPD now seems to believe at least some of the rules don't apply to them. Streetsblog New York City � Eyes on the Street: NYPD Shows Bus Lane Scofflaws How It’s Done [click the image for larger view.]

So blocking the bus lane doesn't seem like a big thing. What would happen to your car if you parked there? Ticketed certainly. Towed?

"At first I figured they were responding to an emergency," O'Leary said, "but there was no police presence on the street or sidewalk, they were ALL unoccupied, and the lights and engines were off."

The community affairs desk at Midtown South denied that officers from that precinct ever park in this bus lane. Perhaps officers from another precinct decided to make a pit stop.

The result was gridlock, as buses, were kept out of their lane and had to block a traffic lane.

But you see those pesky "no parking" rules just don't apply to the cops.