As predicted, the Girl Scout Cookie story has some legs. All three major New York dailies picked it up, and everybody has an opinion (Seems that the biggest difference is in Thin Mints, good/bad?). The best part is the backpedaling. Sensing that their position is tenuous, the NYPD has apparently decided to go on the offensive, claiming that the father was alone, that he was an illegal vendor of the same variety as t-shirt sellers and those guys selling incense, and that they were responding to neighborhood complaints about sidewalks being clogged. Of course, all this is complete and utter crap. Girl scout cookies are a seasonal item, and I haven't yet put them in the same nuisance category as the guy selling socks on the sidewalk. I'd like to see the NYPD find a single person that day that called in to complain about the family selling those cookies. And as for the girl's presence? Gracie was in the van because she was scared, and her frightened mother who is disabled because of MS told her to. And why was she scared? Because 2 PLAINCLOTHES cops pulled up in an UNMARKED car just to accost them. Any normal person would be a bit frightened at the prospect of a car pulling up and two guys hopping out claiming to be cops. But the bigger question is why 2 plainclothes officers (one officer and one Captain, to boot) would be staging a bust on GIRL SCOUT cookie sellers. Were they staking out the Girl Scout? Did the secret Girl Scout alarm go off at One Police Plaza? Did all the uniformed cops have the day off? Is crime now so low that we're putting Detectives and Captains on illegal cookie duty? If so, here's a fucking suggestion, send those cops to the subway where there's still some REAL CRIMES going on. We have helocopter cops being peeping toms, we have Captains busting illegal Girl Scout cookie sellers; and meanwhile we've have, what, 5 subway murders in the past 5 months? The telltale sign is that the oficial NYPD line is a load of crap is that, so far, the cops involved have not been named. They're too busy trying to get their story straight, and the last thing the department needs is for them to say something stupid to the media, like the truth. Believe it or not, there is another side to the story. I do think, having read more on the event, that there could be some justifiable defense of the intent of the officers involved (Well, from the initial reports, the Captin. The other officer seems to have had some brains as he did not want to write the ticket.). But until the NYPD decides to stop trying to cover up their mistake with a mountain of bullshit (and even worse trying to turn it around and criminalize the family), the NYPD deserves every bit of outrage that can be mustered. Newsday NY Post NY Daily News [via gothamist.com]
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