Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is on a mission to eliminate subway dancing. Earlier, Business Insider reported that subway panhandler and performer arrests have risen by 271% since he took office. Now, the AP reports that more than 240 people have been arrested on misdemeanors related to subway dancing in 2014; only 40 were arrested at the same time last year.
Bratton has admitted that the crackdown is part of his “broken window theory,” that targeting smaller crimes like graffiti can “cultivate a greater sense of disorder and embolden more dangerous offenders.”
“Is it a significant crime? Certainly not,” Bratton recently said. “Does it have the potential both for creating a level of fear as well as a level of risk that you want to deal with?” The NYPD cites safety issues as their concern, however, no injuries by subway dancers have been reported. It’s difficult to imagine how eliminating the “Showtime!”-yelling, pole-swinging acrobatics will inspire away such actual problems as the recent spree of gun violence. (Photo: @zokuga)
