3,000 rubles for spitting: fines with camera recordings introduced in Yaroslavl

The bill on fines for spitting caused a strong reaction from residents of Yaroslavl. And, as usual, the people were divided into two camps.

– What? Are you seriously? Have you stopped breathing yet? — a man of retirement age responded to my question about spitting at a bus stop. And then he spat deliciously at his feet.

– What kind of spitting? We’ve arrived! Look at the conditions we live in, that’s what we need to write about, and not about this nonsense,” a resident of a dilapidated wooden house on Pavlik Morozov Street waved his hand. And, clenching through his teeth, he spat.

– Isn’t this a joke? the college student giggled.

There are also plenty of supporters of the governor’s initiative.

– They did the right thing. When someone coughs next to me, I always think, thank you for not hitting me,” notes the saleswoman at the “Press” stall.

“The more fines, the more order,” the local taxi driver is sure. — Have you seen how many people spit so much that they fly two meters forward? For this you need to be fined twice as much.

Windshield wipers are the most aware of spitters. One of them shared his observations: “Every second one, no, no, yes, it’s a hack. Look at the asphalt, you will see everything for yourself. So this disgrace needs to stop.”

“Who are you? Mummers, thieves?

The first spitting raid took place in Yaroslavl on September 8. Nowadays, raids on spitters are carried out more for journalists, who have recently been frequenting the city.

– Come back in a week. The guys will conduct a raid on the weekend, the action was agreed upon by the city administration. – True, the event will be held at the market, a raid on illegal trade is planned. The spitting will be examined on a residual basis.

I arrived at the Dzerzhinsky market on Saturday at 8 am. Our company consisted of ten people. In addition to employees of the administrative and technical supervision inspectorate responsible for spitting, representatives of tax authorities and police were present.

“We won’t touch the grandmothers, we’ll focus on those who trade on an industrial scale: they sell perfume, expired food, cigarettes, headphones, bed linen, panties and socks,” one of the women instructed.

I’m depressed. This story is clearly not about spitters.

“Someone will definitely spit on the market,” the administrative and technical supervision inspector reassured.

Our company split into groups and scattered around the market. I stayed with the police and those who have the authority to fine people for spitting. But it seems that no one was going to spit at the flea market.

But our appearance caused a wave of indignation among traders. One of my accompanying people asked the seller of household rubbish why he was selling in the wrong place. He said with a blue eye: “This is not a sale, but an exchange. I’m just putting the products out there for people to see.”

The man was explained that trading in this place is prohibited, so he would have to draw up a report. Here the man should spit out of frustration. But no, I restrained myself. But he didn’t hold back in his expressions: “Everything is according to the law for me. I exchange trash for money or just give it away. What is the protocol for?

People gathered around us. There was a noise. The loudest shout was from a pensioner who introduced himself as the chairman of the veterans’ council: “Are we criminals? I’ll call the governor now, you will all be removed from office. Move away, don’t scare people away. The mayor gave us the go-ahead.”

A crowd of indignant people surrounded us.

– Who are you, mummers? – they shouted from all sides.

– Thieves… They wanted an extra penny in their pocket.

– Why are you pinching people? Where else can old people earn money for pills?

— Lawlessness, human rights are violated.

– Sheep.

– Champions. I’d like to take it and smack them over the head.

And at least one of them spat…

– Probably, if someone spits now and we show it to him, they will beat us? — I asked the inspector.

“That’s for sure,” the department employee agreed. – Let’s go to another place to catch the spitters…

“I didn’t know about the law, I just leaned back”

Obviously, the raid on illegal trade failed – this was admitted by all participants in the event.

An employee of the administrative and technical supervision inspection turned to me: “I just ran around the supermarket, there’s a lot of spitting there. Everyone is standing, smoking and spitting. Let’s go make a circle, maybe we’ll catch someone.”

And we went to the supermarket, accompanied by a policeman. One of the inspection officers had a chest video recorder on his jacket to record the spitting.

“You have to look at smokers, they always spit,” the peace officer reasoned knowledgeably.

Only the smokers, as luck would have it, fled. There was only one tall, intelligent-looking man left near the shopping center. They usually don’t spit. We headed in his direction without much hope. The man took a drag on his cigarette. And suddenly… like spitting.

“You broke the law,” we ran up to the smoker.

The man’s hands began to shake. He did not immediately understand what had happened.

— You can’t spit on the street, the fine is 1,500 rubles. Do you spit often?

– Sometimes I spit…

The man did not have any documents with him. The protocol was drawn up from his words. Introduced himself: Andrey Valentinovich. He dictated the address and phone number. “Caught means caught. What can you do now? — the attacker reacted surprisingly calmly.

However, he refused to sign the protocol.

“I decided to challenge the fine,” the inspector suggested. “This is the second person in all our raids who did not agree with the fine. The rest signed.

The intruder politely said goodbye.

— Did you know that there is such a law about spitting? – I turned to him.

“I didn’t know,” he spread his hands.

— You’re not from Yaroslavl?

– From here. But I just laid back yesterday…

In general, raids to identify spitters are a thankless and tedious task. Colleagues from television shared that they spent two hours looking for the spitters. They were about to despair when a passer-by spat in the park right in front of their noses. It turned out that he had also recently been released from prison. He complained that he was hungover and felt bad.

We hung around the store for some time. The spitters were no longer found. With that the raid was completed.

“You’re lucky that you found at least one,” a city administration employee later encouraged me.

“They won’t even talk to us without the police.”

After the raid, we spoke with the head of the administrative and technical supervision inspection, Oleg Kuznetsov.

“Now we have begun to identify violators using video cameras. You don’t have direct contact with the person, there is no such negativity. Otherwise, we have to hire the police for raids, there are already not enough of them, it’s difficult for us to allocate employees every time. Without the police, the violators won’t even talk to us, let alone introduce themselves.

— According to your observations, a lot of people spit?

“We constantly monitor video cameras and have noticed that recently people have begun to spit much less. So it worked.

— How much time is given to a person to pay a fine?

— If we issue a fine on the spot, then the person can immediately go to the bank and pay. When a violator is spotted on cameras, we are given 2 months to establish his identity. Then we send a notification to the address.

You have 60 days to pay off the fine. If a person does not voluntarily repay the debt, we send the documents to the bailiffs for forced collection and to the court to hold the citizen accountable for non-payment of the fine. If the violator still does not pay, then a fine of 2,500 rubles is imposed.

— Can you see from the cameras that a person is spitting?

“You can even see saliva on the screenshots from the camera.” We have already identified the most spat upon places. In parks these are benches. If a person sits on a bench and smokes, in 80 percent of cases he will spit. Well, public transport stops are all spat upon.

We have already identified so many bus drivers using cameras! During the break between flights they go out for a smoke break. The bull will be thrown past the ballot box and, accordingly, spat on.

We decided which category of people spits the most. Most of them are smokers who do not move. A person who is about to spit does not stand statically, but bends over. While he smokes one cigarette, he spits ten times. At the moment, we have identified eleven violators from cameras. All mans. The youngest is 26 years old. There are a lot of antisocial people, homeless people. But you can’t bring charges against them. There is nowhere to send notice of a fine.

— How to spit correctly so as not to get fined?

– In a handkerchief or in a trash can.

– What about the children?

— Administrative responsibility begins at the age of 18. So we will not be able to attract a minor. Although parents can be punished for improper upbringing. But we won’t do that for now…

Last year, fines for spitting were introduced in Kazakhstan. The police urged residents to record the violation themselves and send photos and videos to the police through a special application. The fine for spitting is 15,900 tenge (3,200 rubles), for a repeated violation within a year – 30,630 tenge (6,180 rubles).

But the fine for spitting in Singapore is 500 Singapore dollars, in ruble equivalent this amount is 35,100 rubles.