Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota wrote in a letter to the Manhattan District Attorney this week that allowing ever more widespread fare-beating . unquestionably sends a loud and clear signal to those who would flout the law.
Going after fare beaters was a pillar of the Broken Windows theory implemented in the early 1990s. It argued that ignoring smaller quality-of-life crimes only cleared the way for bigger ones to happen. Critics said the strategy became a pretense to unfairly target poor minorities.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said his policy, which took effect Feb. 1, doesn t prevent officers from stopping turnstile jumpers, and that those found to have weapons or an open warrant will be arrested and prosecuted. But a review by his office found that two-thirds of all those arrested in Manhattan for the crime had no prior convictions, and a judge posed no criminal sanctions on those who pleaded guilty, Vance said.