A Poop’s Errand

Inconsiderate dog walkers, like shooting stars, are easy to find but tough to catch:

It was just after dawn when Theo Otibu began prowling Ditmas Park in Brooklyn in his unmarked Sanitation Department car. He scanned the sidewalk for an elusive prey, one known only by the droppings of its best friend: the dog owner who does not scoop.

He spotted a woman in a long black coat leading a small white dog. Mr. Otibu, who has been a police officer in Ghana and a United Nations monitor in Bosnia, brought the car to a stop alongside a minivan and watched her in stony silence through his side mirror.

He could see all the telltale signs of negligent intent: the irritated expression, the hurried pace, the absence of a plastic bag in the pocket. “People who pick up have time,” he said earlier. “You can look at some people right away and say, ‘This person is not going to pick up after their dog.’ ”

The anxious woman and her dog made their way down the street, and Mr. Otibu rolled slowly with them. But after five long minutes of hushed stakeout, the dog did not go.

“It’s a lost,” he said, pulling away.

. . .

By 9 o’clock, prime dog-walking time was waning and Mr. Otibu still had not found any violators. He was anxious. He sped to a spot in Bushwick that he had visited earlier in the day and is popular with dog walkers.

Suddenly, as he made a second trip around the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Seigel Street, he spotted a man in gray sweat pants with two dogs, one of which was crouching, off-leash. “I have him for the off-leash, but now I’m going to wait to see if he picks up.”

He watched as the man turned from the pile and headed toward the agent’s car. It was the moment Mr. Otibu had been waiting for. “I’m going to write him a ticket,” he said, getting out of the car.

The man showed Mr. Otibu his identification and a Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association card. He said that he was a police officer, but that he had forgotten his badge in his apartment. As he went with his dogs to retrieve it, Mr. Otibu wrote him a $200 ticket for not having a dog on leash. When the man returned, he still did not have his badge. He took his ticket and went home.

“I’m not sure he’s a real cop,” Mr. Otibu said. “But that’s not my problem. My problem is to give out a ticket.”

A little later on a nearby corner, he spotted another crouching dog. The owner was on his cellphone, another tip-off. Mr. Otibu watched as the dog deposited in the grass. Not a bag in sight.

Mr. Otibu approached and asked for picture identification. Without identification, agents cannot write summonses, and a number of dog owners sometimes refuse to show ID or claim to have left it at home. Leaving dog waste is a health code violation, not an arrestable offense, so in those cases, agents have to let the matter drop.

Wow . . . some cops really have no shame.