-->

Thursday, August 23, 2012

A lot of suspicious characters ride bicycles

A familiar quotation from A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Patrolman Mancuso was walking slowly down Chartres Street dressed in ballet tights and a yellow sweater, a costume which the sergeant said would enable him to bring in genuine, bona fide suspicious characters instead of grandfathers and boys waiting for their mothers. The costume was the sergeant's punishment. He had told Mancuso that from now on he would be strictly responsible for bringing in suspicious characters, that police headquarters had a costume wardrobe that would permit Mancuso to be a new character every day. Forlornly, Patrolman Mancuso had put on the tights before the sergeant, who had pushed him out of the precinct and told him to shape up or get off the force.
By comparison, all this story is missing, really, are the ballet tights. 

NOPD officers in the 5th District are being ordered to increase the number of field interview cards they fill out, and they must pull over at least one bicyclist every day.  But as FOX 8 investigates, many in the community feel the orders violate the constitutional rights of residents.

On August 2, NOPD Lt. Carol Aldridge sent an email to members of her platoon in the 5th District. In the email, which FOX 8 obtained, Aldridge writes, "This is an order-1 bike, 2 businesses, 1 walking beat EACH TOUR OF DUTY! did you forget that this was a platoon directive? if you cannot accomplish this, you will be writing a 105 every day to explain why you saw no bicycles violating the law, why you had no time to do 2 business checks, and why you did no walking beat the previous day."

No comments: