NY Post Takes Credit for Spike in "Quality of Life" Summons

After a 7.1% decrease in summonses for petty crime last year, the number of "quality of life" summonses is on the rise, according to an article in the NY Post that neatly credits the Post for the change. The NYPD issued about 297,000 criminal summonses for minor offenses during the first half of 2009; that's almost a 5 percent jump over the 283,000 summonses from the same period last year. And the Post claims credit for shaming the NYPD into action with an article last year calling attention to the drop in summonses—an unidentified "well-placed official" says, "It is fair to say there was a push... and [The Post's] articles did it." So next time you're busted drinking a beer on your stoop, it's only proper to send Rupert Murdoch a thank-you note. Of course the NYPD can't officially lionize the Post, and spokesman Paul Browne says the stat just seems dramatic in light of the previous decline. The biggest "quality of life" increase so far is in Chinatown's Fifth Precinct, where police have not been doing as little as possible; summonses have doubled from 2,344 to 4,708 as of last Sunday.