A Round and a Roundy: Cops Hear What They Want to Hear

Julianne Cuba’s crackerjack story about a rogue officer at the 114th Precinct really captured the imagination of our city yesterday – not only was it our most-read post of the week, but our national treasure cartoonist Bill Roundy was particularly inspired.

This week’s cartoon is a classic of a genre, perfected by Gary Larson in “The Far Side,” that explores the gap in understanding between well-meaning people (like our DOT Dot) and people who are not well-meaning at all (in this instance, a generic cop standing in for Officer Jessica Ricotta).

Of course, we’re a bit partial, but we think Roundy has done Larsen one better, not only pointing out that the cop isn’t hearing what little Dot is saying, but willfully misunderstanding it.

Of course, we’ve seen this kind of negligence before from the NYPD. As Cuba’s story reminded, Officer Ricotta’s ticketing is not the first example of NYPD incompetence or ignorance (or both!). Last September, cops wrote a 23-year-old cyclist a bogus ticket (which police said was later voided) for not wearing a helmet after a reckless driver cut him off. New York’s Finest has a long and storied history of wrongly ticketing cyclists for made-up rules, misunderstanding vehicular laws, especially when it involves bikers, and even blaming them for their own deaths or injuries after crashes.

But something about Roundy’s cartoon today really drives home the point. Enjoy and share!

All of Bill Roundy’s cartoon are archived here.