Bratton Lowballs NYC Jaywalking Summonses

Worried about jaywalking tickets? NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton has three words for you: “Get over it.”

Speaking on WPIX Thursday morning, Bratton said that in a city of 8.5 million people, officers have given about 300 tickets to jaywalkers this year.

But numbers provided to WNYC by the police department tell a slightly different story. The department issued 452 jaywalking summonses in January and February, fifty percent more than the total Bratton cited. That’s still a tiny number in a city where jaywalking is treated as a birthright. But it’s also close to the number written in 2013, citywide: 531.

So while most jaywalkers will probably still get away with it, the NYPD is definitely writing more summonses to pedestrians.

Bratton also said that police will be focusing on “so-called quality of life issues” on the subway, including “acrobats and aggressive begging.”

WNYC has reached out to the NYPD regarding the discrepancy, and has not yet received a response.