Is there a more futile use of police resources? But still the NSW Police Force persists. Officers stand guard on either side of a busy city intersection (often after parking their motorcycles on the footpath, making life even more difficult for pedestrians) to spot and then issue a fine to people crossing the road incorrectly.

These jaywalking crime fighters pop up in a few usual spots: Pitt and Park streets, College and Oxford streets, around the congested footpaths outside Broadway shopping centre. The cops wait for someone to cross the road against the traffic signals (you know, not the four seconds of green man where you won't get honked at for crossing the road) and then move in, their ticket book at the ready.

A pedestrian gets a fine for crossing the street on a red pedestrian light during a recent crackdown in Sydney. Credit:Daniel Munoz

And there's an esoteric menu of infringements for the officers to choose from, some of which are hugely open to interpretation: crossing when the pedestrian light is not green, not crossing the road quickly enough, not using the shortest safe route to cross the road.

Your standard fine runs to about $75. That could multiply into thousands should you contest and lose the matter in court. All for just crossing a road. (Imagine the tourists who get fined: “How was Sydney?” “Well, I got fined for crossing the road.”)