A policy of "Zero Tolerance" has been instituted in the police and emergency response departments of the city for anything involving SUBWAYS, BRIDGES, SCHOOLS, POWER PLANTS, GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, AND NATIONAL MONUMENTS. 

         This means zero tolerance for pranks, youthful frivolity, or curiosity. Whether you're the valedictorian of your class on a fact-finding mission, the most scurrilous graffiti artist in the city, a homicidal maniac, or just an average Joe Brooklyn with a little extra curiosity, youíre going to end up downtown in Central Booking if you get caught in the subway tunnels or on the top of some bridge.

---

Topics:
Laws and Such
On the Practical Side
My Experience

---

Laws and Such

Thatís a pain in the ass to search through. So mostly what you want is the penal code, at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/nycodes/law82.html. 

The first link there is an index, and then the rest are numbered articles. The most relevant articles are:
55. Classification and designation of offenses.
60. Authorized dispositions of offenders.
65. Sentences of probation, conditional discharge and unconditional discharge.
70. Sentences of imprisonment.
80. Fines
140. Burglary and related offenses
145. Criminal mischief and related offenses (including graffiti and that sort of thing).

For more extensive learning about laws and legality, check into an online law course, or find an online law-studentís cheat-sheet, like http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/

For an overview of criminal law (heavy on the theory, not so useful on the practical side) check out http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/293/293lect01.htm

Under the general rubric of criminal law, you can find more information on ìcrimes against habitationî at http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/293/293lect10.htm, and on ìTheft law (crimes against property)î at http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/293/293lect11.htm Both of these pages have some slight information about statutes and penalties you might encounter throughout the country.
 
 
 

On the Practical Side:

There are various sorts of security that you might encounter, and you should be aware of the differences. At most colleges, where people are young and energetic and into this sort of thing, the security is specific to the college, and the guards are employees like any other. This means that they canít really arrest you; they can hold you and turn you over to the regular cops, though. More important, they donít WANT to arrest you. Students are the lifeblood of a college, and it doesnít do to make things too difficult for them, even if they doing stupid crazy stuff. The highest penalty for exploring college tunnels that I personally know of, therefore, was $250, and in almost all the cases Iíve heard of, the culprits have been released without having to pay any fine.

At State schools, though, my understanding is that the campus security have exactly the same powers as normal state cops. Thus getting caught at a state school is equivalent to getting caught in a regular urban environment.

Transit cops are usually real police officers, with guns and badges and everything, and are to be feared.

Various sites such as construction sites and some abandoned institutions or buildings are guarded by private security forces. Such security forces are known as "rent-a-cops." They are not usually as energetic, alert, or effective as real police. However, unlike campus security, they have no reason to be nice. In fact, they have every reason to dislike intruders. Intruders and trespassers disturb their calm and placid routines. If it wasn't for intruders, they could sleep all the time. And most intruders are fucking assholes, drunken dumb-asses who vandalize and break shit. So when an alarm goes off they are not inclined to be lenient with you.

If there is security, there is most likely a security trailer somewhere on site. They might make regular rounds, or they might just keep a look out. They might have cameras, or they might have silent alarms rigged, or there might be nothing. It's good to know where the trailer is, and if there are a lot of rent-a-cops or just one or two.

If you are caught and charged, trespassing is the first thing that will come up. Obviously, if you are intruding on municipal or private property, you are guilty of trespassing. I have heard that for it to be criminal trespassing, there need to be signs posted, but Iím not sure that that is true. I have also heard that if you trespass for the purpose of, or in the process of committing another crime, then it's criminal trespassing. Trespassing is just a misdemeanor and carries a fine or perhaps a fine and some community service. I don't know about criminal trespassing. It's much more serious, though; I think it's a felony charge.

The only other charge that I've heard of being brought to bear often in such cases- like when Willig climbed the World Trade Center, or when Petit tight-rope walked from one tower of the World Trade Center to the other- is reckless endangerment. As I understand it, this happens when you endanger other people OR WHEN YOU FORCE THE COPS TO ENDANGER THEMSELVES IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING YOU.

However, there are a many other charges that could be brought to bear. Itís illegal to be carrying tools for burglary, and in some cases the law has been pretty loose about what tools are intended for burglary. "Criminal Mischief" comes in enough varieties to fit any situation. Graffiti is a crime itself. You can read about this stuff in the New York code linked above, in Article 145, "Criminal mischief and related offenses." Vandalism, breaking and entering, unlawful entry... actually, it gets pretty depressing, when you think about it.
 
 
 
 

My Experience:

I've only been arrested once, and that was this past November, while the city was still very paranoid about terrorists. You can read the story, it's linked from www.undercity.org under "stories." It was a very compromising position; I was up on a rooftop, and there was no way to deny my guilt. But it should only have been a trespassing charge, which would have probably resulted in a fine. As it was, my arresting officers were justifiably upset and wanted to put me through the system, and so they gave me "criminal trespassing" (justified by the "suspicion of intent to commit a crime,") and "reckless endangerment" (on the grounds that I had recklessly endangered pedestrians below by climbing up there, I think.) 

I spent 16 hours in holding cells, and then the court-appointed lawyer told me that if I admitted to trespassing they'd drop the higher charges, and I'd have to pay court costs ($60) and do a day or two of community service. When I got into the courtroom, though, the judge asked me if it was my first offense. I said yes, an she declared that the case was "adjourned, pending dismissal," and that if I wasn't arrested in the next six months the case would be dismissed completely and my legal slate would once again be a tabula rasa. I duly promised to keep my nose clean and thus, rather than adventuring over the past months, I have been busily working on this website.

I have actually been "caught" sometimes before by people who were surprised but not all that displeased to see me. On a couple of occasions, getting caught by people who had more right to be there than I (a night-shift physical plant supervisor, a track worker) has resulted in impromptu and informative tours.

In fact, people who are supposed to be there (other than security), are unlikely to be all that upset, especially if you are polite, unthreatening, and genuinely interested in the place as having significant historical/functional/aesthetic value. They know the area, and they know there are no state secrets hidden underneath the city, and that thereís not even much you can damage. In fact, in the case of municipal infrastructure, workers and such might be actually pleased and proud of your interest. There really are amazing, astounding things working beneath the city streets, and few people know enough about it to be properly impressed.

The exception to this is people who are on power trips. Thereís nothing quite so officious and dangerous as a nobody who's pretending to by somebody by hiding behind the mask of Rules and Regulations.

What you REALLY have to watch out for, though, is overly conscientious, uninformed civilians. Sometimes people are just completely unable to mind their own fucking business. 

      I was in a construction site one time, just checking out things and climbing around. Security was on the other side of the site, in their little security trailer. There was a guy in a dirty sleeping bag sleeping on the half-finished ground floor, and I figured that he was some homeless guy who'd wondered in for sheltered place to sleep. I figured we were comrades inasmuch as we were both equally supposed to not-be-there, and paid him no mind until he woke up and saw me.

        "What are you doing here?" he demanded with a strong accent.

        "Just checking it out," I replied truthfully. I was quite drunk.

        "You're not supposed to be here!"

        "Well, you're not supposed to be here either, right? And I'm not making any trouble."

        "It is very bad for you to be here! I am the friend of the security man! He says to me I can sleep here! You must talk to him. I tell him now that you are here."

        "Oh," I said reasonably, "you don't need to do that. I was just leaving."

         And I started to back away. He got up and followed.

        "No! You must stay here! We go to the security man!"

         "Buddy, I don't WANT to see the security man. I'll leave, right now, ok?"

         I was walking faster, which was hard to do backwards, and so I turned to see where I was going. I was almost at the ten-foot fence that surrounded the site. And then suddenly the bastard tackled me!

         We landed hard. I was indignant, even more than I was surprised. Fortunately the strength of his grip did not match the strength of his resolve, and I slithered away from him with a few drunken smacks. I was up and over the fence faster than you can say "Chain link," and it was quite a tall fence too. Anyway, I got away, but it convinced me that it was a mistake to assume that anyone would maintain the right sort of laissez-faire attitude towards me.

If, for whatever reason, you are noticed, and security comes after you, you have a few options. You can give up; you can hide until they leave; or you can run. 

Don't run unless you're pretty sure you can make it; it's very embarrassing to run for a while and then still get caught. 

If it's real cops, and you think there is a good chance they'll catch you before you can get clear, I say give yourself up right away. You don't want real trouble with the boys in blue, and if you run from them, you're establishing a relationship of criminal to cop. If you just walk up to them peaceably, you're still in the relationship of a good member of society, and you can maintain your dignity (until they put handcuffs on you). Just make sure you've ditched anything illegal or incriminating before you go up to them. (Including any tools you might have. "Possession of Implements for Burglary" is a crime.) 

If it's rent-a-cops, though, or even if it's real cops and you think you have a good chance, then I say run or hide, until they start shooting. Hiding can be a hell of a lot of fun, especially if you and a friend have some hiding place near where the security is looking for you, and you have to stay absolutely immobile and scrunched down in the dark while the flashlight beams slash the air, and the car tires crunch past in the grass or the footsteps clomp along the concrete floor. I mean, it's not so much fun at the time; your adrenal glands are pumping faster than a Louisiana beer funnel, and your heart beats so hard that you think your eardrums will explode. But afterwards, when you're weak with relief and giddy and happy and having a drink at a nice safe bar- then it seems like the best fun anyone's ever had since Bilbo met the dragon.