Vox Populi: Getting Trashy

Posted by Guest Columnist Vox Populi Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Guest Columnist Winston Hooker, Sr.

Littering of our streets continues to increase and reflects negatively on our town.  It will likely decline only if there are consequences.

There are anti-littering laws on the books but there is little punishment of offenders.  The police cannot catch every offender, but increased enforcement should deter others if consequences are severe and are known.

If our town council, the police and local judges will collaborate and promise appropriate punishment, then law officers would only need to catch a few who are subsequently prosecuted and the process publicized to deter others.

Hot spots of littering are known due to littering cleanup records.  Police do have lots of other duties and can commit only limited time to this.  If they will stake out a known hot spot for a short time each week, catch just one offender a week, the offender is prosecuted, and the punishment published, the program should be productive.

Judges must commit not to let offenders off easy or it won’t be effective.  Community service and/or fines could be appropriate.  Remember: the two critical components are: 1) no soft treatment by judges, and 2) publishing the punishment.

What do you think? Is littering a sign of declining civic virtue or just an annoyance? Have you ever donned an orange vest and picked up roadside trash? Leave us a comment here or on Facebook.

Photo by fauxto_digit via Creative Commons license on Flickr.

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