Hello all -

I had a rough night last night.  My girlfriend recently brought our
two dogs back to the city after a year and they just wouldn't go to
the bathroom on the street.  So, after an hour of trying at 1am, I
finally hopped the fence of a park in a vain attempt to get the dogs
to just go to the bathroom.  Didn't work either, so I gave up and came
back out of the park and an undercover cop car pulled up and three
officer got out.  I figured I'd get a warning - I have no record and
explained the situation - in any case, I got a summons.

So my questions are:

1. What is the likely fine for such behavior?
2. Is there any way of paying it directly and not have to appear in court?
3. If I'm required to go to court, I assume I should just plead guilty
and pay the fine - is this the right path?

Any help greatly appreciated. I found it a bit ridiculous that these
guys wouldn't cut us a break.  It just amazed me that this where my
tax dollars (probably the highest in the country between city, state
and fed taxes) goes to - I used to be a supporter of the NYPD union
causes - now I'm not so sure when they have 3 cops set up to do this
detail.

Damian

Don't assume that just because there were 3 undercover cops in the
area that that is what they were there for.  There may be a problem
that they were watching for and you just happened to be in the wrong
spot.  Maybe they were there to catch a rapist ... etc.
As for your trespassing.. was it posted to keep out?  If there wasn't
adequate posting you MIGHT have a case.  You would need to contact an
attorney.  I have no idea how much the fine might be and you may do
better by talking to the judge.  But if it was posted and you clearly
violated the law you may just want to accept responsibility and put it
behind you.  Itis not the cops fault for catching you.  Law
enforcement (all of the laws) is what they are paid to do.  Just my 2
cents worth...  I have done many criminal defense related
investigations and have also been a police officer (not in New York).

Steve
www.privateeyeinvestigations.com

Thanks for your comments - unfortunately you didn't answer any of the
questions I asked in my original post.

As for whether or not the police had a reason for being there - your
point is well taken.

What does the summons say? Is it a violation of NYC city ordinance or
New York state law? Look for a citation to a statutory authority on
the summons; the statute will usually tell you what the minimum
punishment is (or tell you a general classification of the crime,
which will be related to a specific level of punishment). The ticket
should also spell out a process for mailing in a fine and entering a
plea of guilty if that is available to you.

As far as pleading guilty being the "right" course of action, that is
a very tough call, and borders on legal advice (which non-lawyers
cannot give, and lawyers can only give in special circumstances). I do
know this: In many jurisdictions, prosecutors will agree to "Nolle"
(i.e. dismiss without prosecuting) a charge when (1) given a good
reason to and (2) asked to do so by an attorney (it's just one way
that the system ensures that private attorneys stay in business).
Thus, in many places in the country, you may be able to get the
charges dismissed, but you may have to pay more in attorney's fees
than you would for the fine.  (This is usually beneficial in traffic
cases, for example, in states where you can lose your license if
you've received too many "points".)

Hey dude I got the same damn ticket.  I was partying with some friends
and we left the party in search of a liquor store.  Then my friend Joe
decides that it would be an incredibly AWESOME idea to go into the
park.  It was after hours of course and the five of us just went there
to hang out.  Three of us were on the swings and the other two were
just hanging around.  There were other people in the park, like 15
guys playing basketball, people walking their dogs, etc.  Suddenly
three cop cars and seven cops come charging at us and issue us all
summonses.  Most of them were real jerks about it.  But luckily we
didn't have anything else on us at the time, no bottles of alcohol,
nothing like that.  We never quite made it to the liquor store.

So I'm going tomorrow to pay the fine.  I never got a ticket in my
life, not even a parking violation.  One of the cops said it was just
a big waste of our time and the judge would probably throw it out. 
But, you know, they have to fill their quota, right?  Oh I'm sorry,
their "unofficial" quota.

By the way, the 15 guys playing basketball didn't speak any English
and didn't have ID at them at the time, so they just got the five kids
on the swings.  I guess there were no murderers or rapists to go after
that night.