The NYPD will not take action against topless women. According to the New York Times, the department was hit with a lawsuit for arresting a woman several times in the past two years for baring her breasts. Van Voast says she was either arrested, detained or institutionalized for her boldness, and now the NYPD is reminding officers (multiple times if necessary) not to arrest women for exposing their breasts in public. Nobody has the time to get sued over petty shit, especially when they're in the wrong.
Back in 1992, the New York Supreme Court decided that it wasn't illegal for women to be topless in public, just as long as they aren't participating in lewd behavior. In February, officers were told that if the exposure of bare breasts creates a crowd, they're supposed to give a lawful order to disperse the entire crowd and take enforcement action” against anyone who fails to follow orders.
The bare breast rule memo was read for ten days straight, just to make sure officers got it. This doesn't mean that women should be egregious with their naked breasts, but they should know their rights. Hey, the police know them extremely well now.
[via Gothamist and New York Times]
