It is understandable that New Yorkers might think they are witnessing something scripted for a grade school playground. In the stubborn showdown between the police and Mayor Bill de Blasio — turned backs, forgiven infractions — many citizens can only watch with sentiments that flow from bemusement to revulsion, if not a mixture of both.

Lisa Dokken was struck when, while running along the water near her home in Battery Park City the other afternoon, she noticed a police officer dawdling near a patrol car smoking a cigar. She has nothing against people taking occasional breaks, but said she thought: “This just does not seem right. You smoke a cigar after you have a big dinner and a cognac.”

Ms. Dokken, 52, a part-time environmental consultant and graduate student, both feels the police generally do a good job and empathizes with those who believe they are unjustly targeted by law enforcement. But she is appalled at what she considers the immaturity shown by the participants in the current showdown, especially the police.

“We pay them to do a job,” she said. “There’s no excuse ever to have a slowdown. As a taxpayer of this community, it irks me.”