New York City is dirty and full of trash. That’s why the fine for littering is anywhere from $100 to $450. But one quiet Brooklyn neighborhood suffered for years from an especially strange trash problem — a “serial litterer” scattering countless pages from books, magazines and more along the sidewalks and streets.

“I need to stress to those who have yet to experience this phenomenon with their own eyes the SHEER VOLUME of papers floating down the street,” one resident wrote on the website, Greenpointers. “It looks like the work of someone with an enormous collection of old books who spends their weekend tearing apart pages before scattering them in the wind.”

The pages ranged from bible verses to explicit 1970s adult magazines and everything in-between. “Sometimes things would be underlined or highlighted on the pages, and we would try to figure out if there was a message,” Molly FitzSimons told Gothomist. “It made me just feel compassion for this person who clearly was processing something difficult.”

Just last month, though, surveillance footage and a concerted effort from local residents finally nabbed the culprit — NYPD Sergeant John Trzcinski.

“It took 4 years?! After the 3rd week max I would’ve been on a stakeout,” Jamie G commented.

Trzcinski is an almost 30-year police-force veteran, and makes $177,516 a year. According to records, he was reprimanded one vacation day for the serial littering. As Joe Gonzalez commented on the New York Post’s coverage of the story, “This is yet another illustration why NYPD cannot get the public's respect.” 

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