Enforcement of Leash Law?

An OTBKB reader wrote in with this story:

Just wondering if anyone else near Park Slope/Sunset Park area got
a ticket for violating the leash law today. My wife got busted for one
on Sixth Avenue near 8th St.
 
(A law's a law, I suppose, but it seemed particularly heartless
since my 12-year-old dog has a gimpy back leg and had to be carried
down the steps and set down by the curb. The "officer" gave my wife a
ticket as she was picking up a 40-pound dog and carrying it back to the
house.)
 
She also noticed cops everywhere today in Park Slope giving tickets to car service people for parking in bus lanes.
 
The city always does something like this when the budget is tight.
Officers start handing out parking tickets to make more money for the
city. I'm just wondering if they're doing the same thing for leash law
violations. Anybody else?

4 thoughts on “Enforcement of Leash Law?”

  1. I understand the motivation behind putting dogs on leashes, but think that it was a bit indulgent giving your wife a ticket for your elderly, probably obviously incapable dog being unleashed. Although the law cannot be discretionary, it could have been overlooked.

  2. I’ve seen this particular lawbreaking canine in action (actually, I think I saw her the day before you got ticketed) and anyone who would be scared of her, well, they’d have to have some deeper problem going on. She’s such an old, slow, sweet-looking dog that, in practical terms, a leash is pretty much beside the point. However, a police officer does have the right to issue an ticket, common sense be damned. From the officer’s point of view, it’s much easier to ticket your wife than it is for them to take on somebody who might get confrontational. I once got a warning from a plainclothes officer when I dropped my dog’s leash for a moment in order to clean up after her on the sidewalk. I thought he was being a bit overzealous but at least I didn’t get a ticket. I just wish they would be this overzealous with the people who don’t clean up after their dogs – I would stand on the sidewalk and cheer them on!

  3. i don’t know what 8th Street has to do with Sunset Park being mentioned. but gee, a person getting a ticket for doing something wrong – how shocking. how hard is it to leash your dog – i leash mine even on the way to the car (although they run direct from the house to the car happy to go for a drive). and sitting in a bus stop is a well-known ticketable offense to drivers, especially professional drivers. these are true quality of life offenses – unleashed dogs often leave poop behind or can scare pedestrians. cars in bus stops cause traffic back-ups when buses can’t get to the curb. now, if you want a rotten ticket – i got a ticket for having a newspaper on my dashboard overnight. the offense was that it obscured the vin number. how many of us even know the vin number is displayed there? that was a total rip-off.

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