Opinion: The Case Against Bounty Laws

In an opinion piece for Streetsblog NYC, MJ Barnett cautions against ‘narc urbanism,’ the emerging trend of new laws that essentially put a bounty on reporting illegal behavior such as blocking a bike lane.

In New York City, a proposed law would let residents earn a percentage of citation revenue if they report a blocked bike lane, a proposal similar to an existing law that created a similar program for reporting idling trucks to prevent air pollution.

For Barnett, this ‘citizen-led surveillance’ is not the solution.

American society is already fractious enough: interpersonal trust is sharply deteriorating as real-world social networks decline, and rising distrust in our institutions and media make consensus increasingly challenging. Bills like Intro 501 further the trend toward mutual mistrust, hardening existing us-versus-them dynamics in our shared public spaces by creating a narc economy with serious financial incentives and penalties.

Such laws, Barnett argues, are a perversion of Jane Jacobs’ ‘eyes on the street’ concept, turning mutual protection into vigilante justice. Additionally, “Deputizing citizens to address traffic violations also implicates the many ethical issues attendant to privatized and citizen-led law enforcement,” pointing to America’s “long history of errant and racially biased community policing.”

As Barnett points out, blocking a bike lane is already illegal. Laws like Intro 501 allows the NYPD to shirk its duties and pass off responsibility to ordinary citizens rather than address the root problem. To solve urban problems, Barnett argues, “we’re going to need leaders willing to leverage the power of the state to do what’s right, even when it’s difficult.”