The decision of the DA has come as a great relief for the public and the NYPD. The Police won't be arresting people for open boozing in the road or urinating in the public.
However, it is not a total relief for the people though as they will be sent summons and will be fined for the offence they have done, but no criminal records will be filed and the law won't process them. This rule has come only for the city of Manhattan.
The new rule has been formulized to reduce burden on NYPD so that they can concentrate on more important duty of keeping the city safe from the more violent actions. It is expected that the new rule will decrease the number of arrest in the city drastically, according to The New York Times.
The new rule is not just for the alcohol consumption and public urination it also includes so many other minor offenses like littering in the public, occupying too many subway seats and riding between the subway cars.
To be clear, consuming alcohol is still technically illegal in New York City. Police just won't arrest you for the offense, according to The Daily Meal.
Mayor Bill De Blasio while mentioning about the new rule said, "'Today's reforms allow our hardworking police officers to concentrate their efforts on the narrow group of individuals driving violent crime in New York City."
Vance conveyed the same thought by his words, "By giving cops the discretion to issue summonses instead of requiring them to make arrests, we ensure they do not spend hours processing cases as minor as littering, and we enable officers to get back to patrolling, investigating, and keeping our neighborhoods safe."
According to the NYPD the new reform will reduce the number of arrests by at least 10,000 per year. If a person charged fine have previous dues he will be produced before a judge to pay the due, but will not have a criminal record.
