NYC Smoking Ban In Parks Will Not Be Enforced By NYPD: Mayor

Who is Mayor Bloomberg counting on to enforce the city's new smoking ban in parks and beaches? You, of course.

The Mayor said the NYPD is too busy to police the actions of scofflaw smokers. That job is best left to the citizenry, according to Bloomberg.

"The police will not be enforcing this. That's not going to be their job," Bloomberg told a caller to his WOR-AM radio show. "This is going to be enforced by public pressure."

While cops are out chasing hardened criminals, Bloomberg said it would only take gentle nudging from fellow New Yorkers to get most smokers to put out their cigarettes.

"Mainly it's just everybody's going to turn to you and say, 'Hey, you shouldn't be smoking,' Bloomberg said. "And you know, most people listen to that."

The City Council voted overwhelmingly for the park smoking ban last week and the Mayor said he supports the law.

Comments

[jamesjm]

03:30 PM on 02/20/2011

Actually Mayor Bloomberg has not gone far enough to protect citizens from second-hand smoke. There should be laws to protect neighboring apartments from tobacco addict's second-hand smoke. Children should have the right to tobacco free air in their parent's cars and their homes. We need to enforce litter laws to discourage tobacco free-basing addicts from littering our city's sidewalks and building entrances.

[Jason N]

10:47 AM on 02/23/2011

"There should be laws to protect neighborin­g apartments from tobacco addict's second-han­d smoke."

And this is the end goal of the smoking nazis.

[butchcliff]

07:16 AM on 02/15/2011

An inane bylaw. How is second hand smoke - Outside - harmful to anyone, any more than
the air pollution of buses, cars, trucks, industry, wood & coal burning, etc?
Nanny State taking care of our health? Not likely.

[Brit Durham]

06:31 AM on 02/15/2011

More and more everyday this nation becomes a police state.....tisk tisk tisk.

[karen1p]

12:22 AM on 02/15/2011

To Chick from Wisconsin:
Get a life.

[karen1p]

07:44 PM on 02/14/2011

Citizens as enforcement N@zis. Yes, this works.

[Peter007]

09:22 AM on 02/14/2011

The problem with passing a law that is unenforceable is that it leads to a Police State.
A police state is when the Police can pick and choose which laws that they wish to enforce and which ones they will ignore.
Now the Police are given the powers of a legislator and judge.
If a cop doesn't like you, they can reach into their book of obscure laws and charge you with jay walking, failure to obey a Police order, smoking in a Park, wearing pants down below your hips..failure to signal when changing lanes.....whatever..
Its used to harass people and it shouldn't be allowed.

[MahatmaCoat]

08:26 AM on 02/14/2011

So that's great. Pass a law, then opt not to enforce it. Citizens are supposed to enforce it by... Shame? Yelling? Fighting? What a great plan.

[Max Shaw]

01:57 PM on 02/14/2011

I was about to say the same thing. There is no way this is going to end well...People are gonna get burned, beat up and yelled out. And small children will undoubtebly learn some new curse words in the process.

[karen1p]

07:43 PM on 02/14/2011

Ya pass a silly law, you get silly enforcement.

[okaywhat]

11:43 PM on 02/13/2011

What, will this be a reason for some crazy to get out their gun??

[pbnyc59]

04:42 PM on 02/13/2011

Just give those 'ordinary citizens' water pistols filled with gasoline, that will do the trick.

[rikster]

03:02 PM on 02/13/2011

the sugar-plum bumpkins society will enforce the ban...

[Hardyman1966]

12:57 PM on 02/13/2011

Public pressure from passers-by really does work.  This has been the law of the land in San Diego County for quite some time now without any real issues, from the beaches of Coronado to Balboa Park, to bus and trolley stops.

[thedave108]

01:46 PM on 02/13/2011

Really, I always smoke in the parks in San Diego. I didn't even know it was banned. No one's ever said anything, either. I'll have to practice being more stealthy anyway...

[Hardyman1966]

02:00 PM on 02/13/2011

Me, too.  Just not cigarettes.  :)

[MahatmaCoat]

08:28 AM on 02/14/2011

And if someone replies by telling you to eff off? What then? Cos I know a heck of a lot of New Yorkers who will go that route.

[PeterNPaul]

06:59 AM on 02/13/2011

This law was always unenforceable. What a sham.

[onwisconsin]

12:41 AM on 02/13/2011

Good luck! Smokers are some of the most rude people around. They believe they have a right to pollute everyone's atmosphere no matter where they are. The polite smoker is a rare person.

I have asthma and an allergy to smoke. We have to ask people to not smoke around me so that I can breathe. We do so very politely but constantly get told to go to hell, even though the law is on our side.

[MahatmaCoat]

08:28 AM on 02/14/2011

You know who are rude too? People telling others what they can and cannot do.

[onwisconsin]

02:24 PM on 02/14/2011

When it is a matter of life and death, I have a right to ask people to follow the law.

[ArmyInfantry8888]

02:48 AM on 02/17/2011

Cigarette smoke is no worse than pollution caused by automobiles, factories, so on and so fourth. Instead of asking someone to move, why not leave the area of question since you don't like being told to go to hell. This law is a joke in all honesty.

[onwisconsin]

11:52 AM on 02/17/2011

You aren't getting it. There are millions of people like me who have allergies specifically to cigarette smoke. This is a form of air pollution that now we, as a society, are making illegal. After years of suffering in silence we can finally have the RIGHT to breathe air without a known allergen, one that makes me in particular lose the ability to breathe at all because I suffer an anaphylactic reaction. That means my throat closes, my blood pressure drops, and I am in immediate danger of dying.

Why should I be forced to live indoors when: 1) smoking is now illegal in public spaces, and 2) smokers can still smoke in their private spaces?

Smoking is a choice. Breathing is not.

[STUPIDgit]

01:25 PM on 02/12/2011

Bloomberg states he wants to get rid of second hand smoke yet is working to totally ban e-cigarettes. I know two people who have completely quit regular smokes with e-cigs and many more (myself included) who have cut down on regular smokes a lot and prefer using e-cigs when in public so we don't stink up the place and offend non-smokers.

[ken607]

01:24 PM on 02/12/2011

ya I'll get right on it.