There may be fewer cops on the force, but productivity is on the rise at the NYPD, if by productivity you mean busting citizens for trivial crimes like having an open container or having a little grass. The stop and frisk tactic that's the key component of Operation Impact—which floods high-crime communities with rookie cops—may not have yielded many handguns, but it's been a huge boon for pot possession busts and open container summonses. more ›

Some of the Santas in the costumed Santacon bar crawl yesterday were naughty, according to police sources. An NYPD spokeswoman tells Gothamist that officers cracked down on holiday-clad revelers who were boozing in public in Washington Square Park. "There were 33 criminal court summonses issued for open containers," she said. "All of these were in the confines of the 6th Precinct." more ›

Like "everyman" Kimber VanRy before him, Marty Markowitz is standing up for stoop drinking. The Brooklyn Borough President was caught red handed with a glass of white as he sat on a Brooklyn stoop for an interview on NBC's "Talk Stoop" segment. VanRy, who became the poster boy for stoop drinking when he was ticketed for it last year, told the Daily News, "I just think there's a clear double standard. A law should be applied blindly to everyone, or it should be deemed ridiculous and we get rid of the law." more ›

Kimber VanRy's name will surely go down in Brownstone Brooklyn history. After getting busted for drinking a Sierra Nevada on his own Sterling Place stoop last August, he stood up to the long arm of the law, and the law didn't win. Sadly, no one really won. The Brooklyn Paper catches up with Our Hero and finds out his case was actually dismissed on a technicality. They report that "Judge Eugene Schwartzwald dismissed the case on Tuesday morning only because it 'took too long' to get the case to trial." VanRy’s lawyer isn't buying it however, and called out prosecutors for "not bothering to show up to fight it out on the merits." Earlier this month the first judge assigned to the case stepped down. more ›

Looks like there's going to be a lot more ink put down on the whole public drinking debate, The NY Times has now talked to Kimber VanRy--the man ticketed two weeks ago for having a beer on his stoop. At the time VanRy said he would likely just pay the fine, but after all the attention he's now pleading not-guilty at a November court appearance.

“I think this is a real gray area. I don’t think I was doing anything wrong.” He questioned the notion that his stoop is considered a “public place” as defined by the law. “It’s one of those laws that a lot of people know it’s there, but how heavily it should be enforced is a question."