I fought the law
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
...the law won, of course.
I'm writing this blog material which cost me 20 bucks. Hope you enjoy it.
It happened just an hour ago, as tennis had ended (5 of us) and I was rushing back home to meet the Acer support guy. Can you believe it? The one time the support guy is on time, I'm not. Acer support people has made me wait countless hours, including one where the guy was 3 hours late. Well, I rushed home and got myself a jaywalking fine from a policeman. I was feeling utterly foolish and absentminded.
Just 4 hours earlier as I was getting to school for the same tennis session, I saw this guy who was with 4 girls. All the girls were jaywalking, but the guy absolutely didn't want to, so they called him a sissy, jokingly. How very ironic.
I confess that I jaywalk nearly every day. As long as I get out of the house, I probably jaywalk at least once. When I get to the bus stop two roads across that takes me to Bedok interchange, anyone who see the route I need to take to be fine-safe will do the same thing as I do. And let's face it. Which reader here doesn't jaywalk, ever? Nonetheless, I was stupidly oblivious to the policeman there. Jaywalking is one thing, jaywalking with a policeman waiting to catch unsuspecting people is another. All I have to say in defence is that my mind was elsewhere, and my eyes anywhere but on the guy.
I also read this study by an NUS student recently for the debate qualifiers, which mentioned the number of people caught guilty for littering. We always think it never happens, don't we? Read this excerpt.
"How are these laws enforced? Enforcement officers from the Waste Management Department, dressed in ordinary clothes, station themselves in places with high human traffic such as the vicinity of bus interchanges, , shopping malls and hawker centres. Members of the public are encouraged to report offenders, if they can be identified" (sounds like Nazi Germany) "Where the offending litter is small, such as a cigarette butt, or sweet wrapper (i.e. litter that does not give rise to serious public health problems), a composition fine of S$200 may be offered.
... In the case of Public Prosecutor v. Lim Niah Liang, the accused had pleaded guilty to one charge of throwing a cigarette butt into a drain, in contravention of s. 18(2) EPHA. He had committed the same offence four years ago, and the offence was compounded for $200. For this second offence, the prosecution applied for a CWO under s. 21A(1) EPHA, contending that he was a “repeat offender.” This was rejected by the Magistrate, who took the view that the prosecution had failed to discharge its burden that a CWO should be imposed, as there was only one previous compounded offence, committed four years ago. This was reversed on appeal, Yong CJ stating that evidence of previous convictions was not a pre-condition for the imposition of a CWO; that the implementation of s. 21A(1) depended either on evidence of commission of previous similar offences, or on evidence that a serious littering offence had been committed. For the purpose of showing that an offender was “recalcitrant,” it would suffice to rely on evidence that he had previously committed the same offence on at least one occasion. He need not have been convicted of the offence. Yong CJ imposed a two- hour CWO and returned the respondent the fine of $300 imposed by the magistrate." (All I can say is that it must have been a helluva boring court drama. But it nonetheless goes to show how serious the law can take it if it chooses to.)
"In 2005, 3,819 persons were ticketed for littering.188 Of these, 3,462 chose to
pay the composition fine of $200. Since the introduction of the CWO in 1992
to 20 September 2006, 4,225 persons have been sentenced to the Corrective Work
Order."
It made me think too, of how many offences the average teen has commited before he or she reaches 18. These are probably some of the most common ones:
1) Jaywalking
2) Music piracy (theft of intellectual rights)
3) Software piracy
4) Underage drinking
5) Countless 'illegal gatherings'
6) Littering
Next time I'm out, I'll still jaywalk. I'll look both ways for traffic before crossing, though, not just for traffic, but for prowling officers.
posted by joseph at 4:55 PM