“Let’s Be Particularly Careful Out There”
While rolling up Mill Road or down Route 22 in Eastchester, heed the advice of Sgt. Esterhaus in the old Hill Street Blue series. According to allegations in this recent Journal News article, the local police are explicitly encouraged to raise revenues by issuing traffic tickets, thereby reducing their discretion in just giving a warning when that might be just.
I don’t know whether or not an order to meet ticket quotas comes from above the level of Chief of Police but I have my suspicions. In either event, a suggestion to the Chief that this is bad policy could certainly come from the Voice of the People, i.e., the Town Board, which outranks the Police Chief. Town officials should heed the exhortation to “endeavour… to keep and maintain Christian love and civil honesty,” as inscribed in the 1665 Eastchester Covenant, the oldest surviving compact of its kind in New York State. Until that blessed day, you who drive cars should consider Eastchester one big speed/stop-sign/right-on-red/modified-muffler trap. And I’ll try to keep my bike under 30 mph, and nice and quiet, going down the steep part of New Rochelle Road!
Damon