Don't Feed the Pigeons

Many people assume that cops must be experts about law. They're not. I don't mean this post as an insult to police officers, but the blunt truth is that the vast majority did not go to law school. And some, as we see here, don't even know an ordinance that's widely posted in their own city.

CNB photo archives

It is illegal to feed the pigeons in Chicago. So says Chicago Municipal Code Section 728-710, which calls for a fine of up to $500 for throwing food to the filthy, flying poop droppers. Addendum: After a writer wrote that "there is no Section 728-710," I felt compelled to add a link to the section in question (also see my response to "Roderick" in the comments). Read the entire Section 728-710 here. 

Unfortunately, some CPD officers seem unaware of this well-known, well-posted law. At 5:18 p.m. today, a call went out from the 24th District CPD dispatcher.

"Woman feeding pigeons at Howard and Paulina, causing a disturbance," she called out.

Immediately, an officer radioed back, "That is not illegal."

"Yeah," came the dispatcher's response. After half an hour of listening, I never heard a followup to that disturbance call.

Okay, I know, feed the pigeons is no emergency. Yes, it helps a disease-spreading pest breed and multiply, but what the heck - we allow unregulated food carts to sell unrefrigerated, unlicensed, uninspected food to humans, right? So what's one more health threat?

The big deal is that a police officer (a) did not know that it's illegal to feed pigeons, even though it's one of the most posted laws in the city, and (b) an ignorant officer overrode his ignorant dispatcher with an ignorant remark. How many other, more serious calls are called off in the same manner?