Still others, like allowing the police to fingerprint anyone picked up for illegal peddling, would require a change in the law.

Mr. Destino said "if we can place an effective security presence everywhere, that will absolutely be a dissuasive element" to illegal peddling.

Inspector Michael Collins said officers issued 166 summonses for illegal peddling and 6 for carrying open containers of alcohol in public.

The number of pushcart licenses was frozen at 6,000, and illegal peddling abounded.

From 1922, German Bible Students were arrested on charges of illegal peddling as they publicly distributed Watch Tower Society literature.

A police officer nabs Clifton for illegal peddling and shoots him when he resists arrest.

Central to the new police operation, as in all of Mr. Bratton's strategies, is a concentration on so-called quality-of-life offenses such as public beer drinking and illegal peddling.

Streets within the Fifth Precinct are riddled with illegal peddling and other quality-of-life offenses.

In February, noting the resurgence, the police both above and below ground began to direct their attention to illegal peddling, Chief Donohue said.

But many others do not, leaving them open to being arrested for illegal peddling and reported to immigration agents.