A group of police officers, who have been called “overzealous,” have come under fire for detaining a man for jaywalking in broad daylight. The three cops were caught on camera by TikTok user KryptoMessi in the Liverpool area of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia as they emerged from an unmarked police vehicle to confront the pedestrian on May 4.
The jaywalker initially recorded himself walking away, but the officers caught up to him, which escalated the situation. At this point, one of the police officers confronted him, telling him that he’d been seen jaywalking, and ordering him to put his phone down and produce his identification.
Afterwards, the man in question shared the footage of his encounter online, provoking intense anger in social media spaces. One person commented that it was easy to see why people have such disrespect for cops these days. Another griped about the fact that the Australian police apparently have nothing better to do than harassing citizens on the thinnest of pretexts.
In the wake of this incident, commentators online have called the law against jaywalking a “joke” that empowers “overzealous” police officers.
Jaywalking was outlawed in New South Wales a decade ago under the 2014 NSW Road Rules. The specific article is Regulation 231. According to the regulation, pedestrians may only begin a road crossing at pedestrian traffic lights when the light is green.
Any pedestrian who crosses against a flashing red light, or who crosses within 20 meters of a marked crosswalk, may find themselves liable for a fine ranging anywhere from $75 to $220.
If such a citation is unsuccessfully contested in court, the fines can then be increased to as much as $2,200 per offense, according to Armstrong Legal, a NSW law firm specializing in family, criminal, and estate law.
The incident is the latest in an uncountable of such incidents caught on camera across the western world in recent years that have seriously eroded the social authority of law enforcement.
