Dan's Papers - June 6, 2008

On Sunday, June 1, at about 11:15 a.m., I drove south on Abraham's Path in Amagansett, to get from Springs, where I live, to Montauk Highway. My intention was to go east to the beach in Napeague. I often write on my laptop there.

Coming down Abraham's Path, however, I rounded a turn just before the railroad tracks, saw lights flashing and found myself entering a police roadblock where several grim-faced policemen told me to slow down and come to a halt. A burglary? A murder? I slowed down. A female police officer with the traditional police officer sunglasses walked over, peered at my windshield, decided my stickers were up-to-date, and then motioned me on through.

I thought it was an odd place for a registration check. But then, when I arrived down at the light at Abraham's and Montauk Highway, I saw what I have come to believe was what this was about. The parking lot of the American Legion Hall at that corner was filled with a hundred or more old, classic cars from the 1940s to the 1970s, all chrome and tailfins, all in perfect condition and some of them, I bet, worth tens, and perhaps even hundreds of thousands of dollars. A crowd of several hundred people moved among them, enjoying the display. The event was sponsored by the Bonac Cruisers.

All cars, even classic cars, have to be inspected once a year. It was June first. A new month. Perhaps some of the classic cars, freshly out of the garage for this annual event, did not have their stickers in order. And the main way out to the highway - and owners of classic cars avoid busy roads as much as possible for fear of accidents to their precious possessions - would be Abraham's Path.

The very thought of this is appalling to me. It's a good time to be had by all, except for the police who might find an inspection sticker on a 1957 Thunderbird a few weeks out of date (if the owner had gotten their sticker in May last year, and hadn't gotten the new one yet).

Am I reading too much into this? I think not. Over the last year, a wave of unnecessary and appalling behavior bordering on harassment has swept through many police departments on the East End.

It became noticeable a year ago. The Quogue Police began to enforce the laws in that village by tailgating cars, questioning girls on bicycles going from the ballfield to their homes, setting up roadblocks, and, on one occasion, even bursting into the home of a resident in that town without a warrant to arrest a woman inside - the homeowner - who was on the phone reporting that her car had just run into a tree in front of her house. In her house, even though the police had not witnessed the accident but only seen the car against the tree, they arrested her for reckless driving, handcuffed her and took her to the police station where she remained for the rest of the day.

One of the associate editors in our office, a 22-year-old woman who is the daughter of a prominent family in that town, told me she was afraid to drive to work in the morning. Leaving her driveway, she would be followed. Coming home, she'd be followed again. She was often pulled over, but never ticketed. She drove 20 miles an hour.

I called the police and mayor there to report this activity, and found out that this was standard procedure now for the police in the village, and that they had no intention of changing it. They told me that they were following new rules that had come down from the State of New York, which urged police departments to take a more aggressive approach to law enforcement. Why? The concern was terrorism. Finding those who might be determined to do us in was now a priority.

A secondary reason for all of this was the belief that an aggressive approach toward crime might keep the lid on it. As we know, crime in all major cities in America declined by more than half between 1990 and 2000. And it has stayed at that low level.

One of those taking personal responsibility for this, in New York anyway, was Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and his police chief, William Bratton. Giuliani said it was his aggressive procedures that accounted for this. Maybe so, maybe not. It wouldn't have accounted for the decline in Milwaukee or Salt Lake City, yet those cities and practically all cities in America had a decline similar to New York.

Even so, New York City went to the trouble of putting a very sobering slogan on the side of their police cars, something that, I think, reminded police officers there to differentiate between those they protect and those they need to protect us from. The slogan, in big letters, reads, "Courtesy. Professionalism, Respect."

There are more examples of police departments moving aggressively after those involved in minor infractions. The East Hampton Village police department has bought computerized license plate readers which they mount on top of their police cars. Linked by computer to Albany, these devices can instantly spot a car that has had its registration suspended. But they make no distinction between those who are driving stolen cars and those who had registrations suspended because of a 15-day insurance lapse from a year-and-a-half ago, when the plates were on a different vehicle. Minor paperwork problem or chop shop candidate, it makes no difference. All get towed. (It happened to me.)

This is the same police department that netted Vered two Saturdays ago because she failed to have a $35, one-day permit to serve alcohol at her art gallery. It turned out that this was part of a major bust, where police all over the village were looking for violators of this $36 crime.

And then there are the other police "roadblocks" to check for expired car stickers. The most famous one, resurrected for the first time this summer over Memorial Day weekend, was at the end of the eastbound lanes of Manorville Road, where you make the left to get onto the Long Island Expressway. The county police hold it there on Sunday nights, making the long, tiring traffic jam coming out of the Hamptons and going toward the city a hideous nightmare for everyone. I saw a similar Friday afternoon situation on County Road 39 on Friday, courtesy of the Southampton Town Police. Welcome to the Hamptons.

And now, county police have erected a very enormous and aggressive sign urging people to slow down below 35 miles an hour on County Road 39 in Southampton. On the billboard, a police officer is shown popping up on the far side of his police car and pointing a radar gun at a suspected perpetrator. It is reminiscent of those SWAT team photos where they've got the murderer surrounded, but he's still firing at them.

(Many years ago, when I first got my driver's license, there was a big billboard like this at the western end of Water Mill, urging you to slow down. At the time, there were no crosswalks, no traffic lights, not even much traffic. People roared through. The sign, a friendly warning from the Southampton Town Police Department read, "Entering Water Mill, Slow Down and Enjoy It."

Where is courtesy, professionalism and respect? In the city. Out here, the police seem more intent on terrorizing its citizens over the most trivial matters.