Woman reports street harassment, NYPD officer laughs

There are a bunch of dudes in my neighborhood who are always street harassing me, yesterday it was worse. I was jogging, wearing spandex and my jogging bra and one guy threw a dollar bill at me and they laughed.

I tried to report this at my precinct and the police said, verbatim, “I’d like it if someone threw money at me” and laughed and made fun of the situation.

I am disgusted by the propelling harassment and mistreatment to women that happens so frequently in NY. I want to stand up for myself and my human rights in bigger ways, ways that will be heard by more people.

Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

Making political statements about it. It’s so deeply woven into our society that it’ll take more then just passing flyers out on the street or yelling back to the harassers. We need to all stand up for our rights and try to get more policies in force to prevent harassment. Maybe fines can be in place for even the smaller harassments like cat calls in hopes to scare off the offenders. If bigger prosecutions were given to harassers they would be less likely to do it. Our individual voiced need to have more power, the police say they can’t do anything if you report harassment, only if they witnessed it or if they have evidence. That makes it harder to prevent. The PD should have policies to train officers to be aware of street harassment and how to prevent it.

– Chloe Saavedra