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CBS2 Demanding Answers: Why Are Quality Of Life Summonses Way Down This Year In NYC?

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio and police Commissioner Bill Bratton like to brag about crime numbers, and murders and shootings are indeed down.

But as CBS2's Dick Brennan reported Tuesday, summonses for quality of life crimes have also dropped – and critics have plenty to say.

Many people think things are getting worse, with problems such as bikers on the sidewalk.

"They don't slow down for people. They push people away," said Paul Greene.

People are also less than pleased with puddles of pee on the subway platforms – and beyond.

"They're urinating on the subway trains," said Alfreda Weaver of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

"Spitting, like, in the middle of the steps going down the subway, you know," said Mark Guadagnino of the Upper West Side. "Wait till you get to the track, at least."

Indeed, some might think despite the crime numbers, things feel like they are getting worse rather than better.

"Fighting on the streets; you see a lot more homelessness – generally not what it was three, four years ago," said Izzy Astabobic.

In the first six months of this year, summons for public consumption of alcohol were down 4.5 percent compared with last year. Summonses for disorderly conduct were down 23 percent, for urinating in public 13 percent, and for riding bicycles on sidewalks 42 percent.

Overall, summonses were down 10 percent.

The exact breakdown for the period between Jan. 1 and July 17 of this year and last year is as follows:

Offense 2016 2015
Public Consumption of Alcohol 50,375 52,738
Disorderly Conduct 12,624 16,290
Urinating in Public 10,873 12,473
Bicycles on Sidewalks (Moving Violation) 582 1,005
TOTAL 74,454 82,506

So CBS2 wanted to know – why are police writing fewer summonses? Bratton said it because there are just fewer crimes.

"I use these medical analogies all the time," Bratton said. "If a doctor has cured you of cancer, is he going to keep increasing your chemotherapy and your radiation after you'd been cured? That'd be malpractice."

Mayor de Blasio signed a law in June that reduces some violations to civil fines and not criminal arrests.

"There's a confusing message coming from City Hall," said New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch. "They're basically saying, 'We don't want you to go after quality of life crimes.'"

Lynch said officers continue to aggressively go after the bad guys – the murderers and the muggers. But such is not so much the case for petty crimes, he said.

"Should I take that extra step and go after these quality of life issues as well, and the thought is if I do that and someone questions it or something goes wrong, I'm going to be personally sued," Lynch said. "So then my livelihood, my family's future, is in jeopardy -- and that puts a doubt in the police officer's mind."

But Bratton said the NYPD stands behind its officers.

"The idea that they are not going in harm's way because they're concerned about lawsuits -- I've yet to see in my time a single New York City police officer lose their home or pay a dime out of their own pocket for any of the lawsuits that might be filed against them," Bratton said.

The old broken windows theory of fighting crime – spearheaded by Bratton and former Deputy Police Commissioner of Crime Control Strategies Jack Maple under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the 1990s – encouraged officers to catch low-level offenders so as to help reduce major crime.

With major crime now down, the idea is to pull back on enforcement without affecting the crime rate. But as with all policing, the question remains as to whether it is working, or whether fewer arrests just mean less enforcement.

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