At a time when police officers are viewed by many Americans as potentially dangerous authoritarians, a law enforcement department in North Carolina had an idea to bolster relations with the public.

They would give "good tickets" to reward law-abiding behavior.

If someone was spotted obeying pedestrian crosswalk rules or riding a bicycle legally, they would get the affirming citation, along with coupons for local businesses.

"It's a good opportunity to thank those for following the law," Chapel Hill Police Lt. Celisa Lehew told The Daily Tar Heel, a student newspaper at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

But in response to public concern, officials said Wednesday, the plan is being shelved.



"In response to publicity about a recent Chapel Hill Police Department plan to reward positive behaviors by pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, we have decided to postpone this portion of our work," the police department said in a statement reported by The Huffington Post.

The department blamed what it said was a misperception that drivers not suspected of committing an offense would be stopped. It's unclear how police intended to reward drivers if not by stopping them.

"[W]hile we never intended to stop motorists as part of this program, the fact that this was reported as part of the program has resulted in significant feedback from many community members," the police statement said. "These concerns have resulted in a decision to re-evaluate the program and determine the appropriate manner in which to proceed."

Though public concern drove the decision to nix the unusual tickets, not everyone opposed the plan.



Chapel Hill Town Council member Maria Palmer told the Tar Heel she favored issuance of "good tickets" and would appreciate one of her own. "You cannot do anything in Chapel Hill illegally without getting caught," she said. "Most people in Chapel Hill don't break the law."

Another Town Council member, attorney and Mayor Pro Tem Sally Greene, says she hasn’t heard from constituents opposed to the program, but read the opinions of critics who posted on reddit and Huffington Post comment threads.

“I thought the program was a good initiative,” Greene says. “But I respect the views of those who saw it as intrusive. We live in a climate of distrust of the police, and much of it is justifiable.”

Greene says police took a “responsible step” by holding off on the idea and that she personally was more concerned about the planned inclusion of coupons.

”It seemed to confuse things – perhaps an example of what Jane Jacobs in her book Systems of Survival terms a ‘monstrous hybrid’ of government and commercial functions,” she says. “The police activity and the ‘free lunch’ offer should perhaps not have been combined.”



Randy Young, a spokesman for UNC-Chapel Hill's Department of Public Safety – a separate police force – says some campus officers had expressed interest in participating in the good-ticket effort, but that "it was really in the planning stages."