By now, unless you have only recently resuscitated yourself from a St. Patrick’s Day weekend fog, you have seen or heard about the young, er, couple, having daylight sex next to a dumpster in the parking lot behind Grotto Pizza on Main Street in Newark. By Instagram, by Twitter, by Facebook, and finally by traditional old media, the photos and story have “gone viral,” as they say.
Grossly inappropriate? Yes. Instantly regrettable? Of course. But criminal? No. In this age of social media, the Twitterverse has already meted out its punishment: Shame. Humiliation. Family embarrassment. In the digital world there is no escaping the consequences of your drunken, ill-advised behavior. It doesn’t get any worse than having to tell your mom that yes, you are the one on Instagram having sex next to a dumpster.
But if the Newark Police had their way, it would. Not satisfied with the 73 arrests of St. Paddy’s Day revelers it has already made, the Department has published photos and asked citizens to come forward to identify the young man and woman so they can be brought in for questioning. What is the point? At most, a conviction for lewdness, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine or probation. Is that the best use of police resources? Doubtful. Of course, if an officer comes upon persons engaged in a lewd act in broad daylight, he or she has to take action. But there is little value in plastering these folks’ pictures across the internet to track them down.
We can only hope that cooler heads prevail and the police move on to more pressing issues. In this day and age, when all embarrassing missteps are captured on smartphones and security cameras, by committing the very act, the perpetrators ensured their punishment.