Police resources have alternative uses and choices must be made. When a crime is being committed, sometimes police have to look the other way because the benefits of stopping the crime do not outweigh the opportunity costs. To wit:
A scalper’s dream played out all night: Fans walking through the crowd, whispering — and sometimes shouting — “I need tickets” until one of them moseyed up. Sometimes, the deal was made. Oftentimes, it wasn’t.
People seemed to be waiting for top dollar. And police officers seemed not to notice, or care.
“I don’t care about that,” said one police officer, who declined to give his name. “Not at all. We’re here to keep the peace, make sure there are no fights. Not worry about tickets.”
Ash Wegener gets it. A parking-lot brawl beats out ticket scalping on a cop’s priority list, especially when you mix in so many people who don’t like one another, have been drinking all day and are getting ready for the most important game in their team’s history.
That's a story from the parking lot outside Arrowhead Stadium from this past weekend's Missouri-Kansas football game (an article referenced in this earlier post from today on price discrimination).