The Metropolis

More on the madness of trying to stop street pissing with threats

Mike Pollitt | Thursday 28 February, 2013 13:33

Last week I declared it mad that 115 people were arrested in 2011-12 for pissing in the streets surrounding Brick Lane.

Jasmine Gardner in the Evening Standard has devised with a new deterrent.

“…we (Jasmine and Redchurch St shop owners) came up with a more acceptable solution: a blog. Caughtshortinthestreet.com will be the place to send in your snaps of chaps in full flow in public. If you don’t fancy featuring, then don’t piss on our doorsteps.”

[As of this morning, a blog at caughtshortinthestreet.com does not exist]

Few people would argue with Jasmine’s contention that pissing in the street is a menace.

“…there is no such thing as an uninhabited alleyway in London: a drunk man’s latrine is a sober man’s doorstep.”

Yep, it’s a problem. The question is, what to do about it?

One approach is to repress the problem away by threatening people with arrest or internet shaming until they stop being gross.

Another approach is to try to design away the problem, by helping people to stop being gross. That would involve investment in public toilets, a social/culture change in which it became acceptable to enter premises purely for the sake of using their toilet, and similar innovations.

Will either of these approaches entirely stop drunk men from pissing in the street? Probably not.

But I know which one has a better chance of holding back the tide.

Jasmine Gardner at the Evening Standard – Snap and shame those who pee in the street

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