A recent P-I reader blog post got me (and many others) worked up with the news of SPD jaywalking stings, wherein officers lie in wait to catch and cite flouters of our hall-pass jaywalking laws. The post said that the stings were part of the Pedestrian Master Plan, and that the city has 30 such planned for 2009. (“Pedestrian stings” are mentioned in this working version of the master plan (pdf), and section 3.2c talks about looking for areas where jaywalking enforcement might be best focused.) But SPD spokesperson Mark Jamieson says that no such stings are planned for catching jaywalkers, and that the only planned actions are focused on cars respecting pedestrians’ crosswalk rights–a measure that Nick Licata’s office pushed for and identified the grant money for. A note on nomenclature: Notwithstanding the document’s language, “they’re not stings,” says Jamieson. “They’re more just an emphasis to change specific behavior and educate the public.” Licata staffer Lisa Herbold adds that the “research show(s) they work much better when the public knows they are occuring.” Of course, none of this means the SPD is done enforcing jaywalk laws, sadly. But, says Jamieson, “It’s not like we have nothing better to do than hang around downtown trying to catch people for jaywalking.” Amen to that, brother.