Arrests Up for Public Drinking, Peeing: Is There A Connection?

The NYPD recently released its summons counts for the seven most common "quality-of-life" violations, and for the past two years, the overall totals have been the highest on record, surpassing 500,000 "quality-of-life crimes" in '07 and '08. The Post reports that last year the number of summonses for drinking in public increased by more than 4,000 (from 66,885 cases to 70,948) from July 1st through December 31st, compared with the same period in 2007. And it doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to get why more people were also busted for public urination during the same time period, up from 3,888 to 4,161. More stats: disorderly conduct arrests during that time dropped from 47,730 to 43,018, marijuana possession busts declined from 4,775 to 4,107, and littering violations were down from 3,216 to 2,901. And the Post says you've got the Post to thank for a recent NYPD crackdown on "quality-of-life" crimes; the tabloid says cops turned up the heat on misdemeanors after the Post reported fewer summonses for minor offenses in 2008 than in 2007.