In the "don't they have better things to do" department

Via Readerville I became aware of this silly story.

Crime Most Fowl

A couple of birdbrained cops taught a lifelong educator a harsh lesson: It's a crime to feed sparrows on the street.

Yvette Bavier, 60, said she was innocently sprinkling bits of birdseed at West 125th Street and Hancock Place when two NYPD officers drove up and slapped her with a hefty ticket - for "littering."

Has the crime rate of New York fallen to such a low level that this is the level of crime the cops have to deal with to keep busy? And is it really a crime? The last paragraph of the article leads one to have some doubt.

Instead of ending the episode with the customary "have a nice day," Bavier said, the cops stunned her by advising that if she went to court, she could likely get her case dismissed.