NYC Cracks Down on Subway Breakdancers

If you’ve ridden the New York City subway system for any period of time, odds are at least once you’ve heard that one breakdance-accompanying exclamation that delights the bored and irritates the reading: It’s showtime!

Well, showtime may soon be over, after the New York City Police Department announced on Wednesday the city intends to crack down on the subway performers who blast music and breakdance in the train cars — often with gravity-defying acrobatic intensity — then ask riders for tips.

Already in 2014 at least 46 subway dancers have been nabbed and charged with reckless endangerment by the NYPD.

“Those activities create a sense of fear, or that we’re not paying attention to disorder,” NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton said. “We are paying attention to disorder.”

According to Reuters, the New York City Transit Authority earlier in the year began sending emailed rider complaints along to the NYPD, which started dispatching officers in real time to investigate.

[Reuters]