Capn Design Archives: Why Be a Cop When You Can Beg?

Why Be a Cop When You Can Beg?

August 13, 2007

Before I start, I wanted to mention that the Freakonomics blog has been awesome since moving to NYT.com. I've always liked their stuff, but I think they're hitting us with a bunch of great topics and I actually prefer the quick descriptions to the full content in the RSS feed.

I say all this because I was blown away by a quote on the Freakonomics blog from the book Blue Blood by Edward Conlon. It's worth re-republishing as its that good.

I handed Tommy some money, he held up his hands and said, "C'mon, Eddie, you don't have to, it's okay." I said, "It's all right, you guys work, you take risks for us, you should get paid." He took the money, but he shook his head.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I feel a little funny, since you guys pay out of your own pockets. Do you know how much we make out here, panhandling, during rush hour?'

"No, how much?"

"About a dollar a minute."

"Oh."

I didn't take my money back, but I saw his point. Charlie and Tommy made more money than us. I should have realized that earlier, as the math was not complicated — we took home less than a hundred dollars a day, while their habits were at least that. I tried not to dwell on the fact that, economically, a New York City police officer was a notch down from a bum.

First, I can't believe panhandlers make that much money! That's eye-opening to me and helps explain how so many people can afford to live on the street. It also makes it frustrating that they're still on the street if they could theoretically take home several hundred dollars a day. I have enough concerns about giving to panhandlers as it is, but that's a whole other blog post.

Second, I'm sure most cops aren't in it to get rich, but that's gotta be frustrating. It mostly shows how little people understand what a little bit of money can do. We tend to piss away small sums of money all the time that could be terribly useful when pooled together. I guess it's hard to grasp that in the same way it's hard to convince someone their vote is important in a sea of 100 million.

Third, I really want to buy this book. Ever since my obsessions with the Wire began, I'm fascinated by realistic tales of police work. Thanks for the recommendation, Freakies.

Comments (3 comments so far)

Comment #1:

I had a friend who used to play music in T stations. He figured out the key was writing funny songs about commuting and tourists, and improvs about the people on the platform, and people loved him so much that he was making $10+ per train. Now think about how many trains go by in an hour. Not bad.

Posted by Lizzie on August 14, 2007 at 1:04AM

Comment #2:

Just a side note, your div class="quote" doesn't carry through to your RSS feed. When I was reading your post, I couldn't tell where the excerpt started ended and your commentary started. Could you use blockquote which i think would be visible in your feed?

Posted by Michael Clark on August 14, 2007 at 7:57AM

Comment #3:

@Michael: You're absolutely right. I'll see if I can hack something together until I finally finish the new design.

Posted by Capn on August 14, 2007 at 9:46AM

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