In 2016, a year after the NYPD arrested nearly 30,000 people for fare evasion, New Yorkers launched Swipe It Forward. The idea was simple. It encouraged more people to do what many communities already did: swipe in riders who can’t cover the fare. This is perfectly legal to do as long as you don’t take payment, block the turnstile and the person you’re swiping in doesn’t ask  for or solicit the swipe. In early iterations of the campaign, organizers showed up at the most heavily policed stations during rush hour, MetroCards loaded, to swipe as many people as possible through. Later, when the MTA ran ads urging riders to report fare-beating, the campaign answered with look-alike ads of its own: “Don’t Snitch. Swipe.”

The campaign saved hundreds of New Yorkers from potential arrest while drawing attention to the unnecessary cruelty of broken windows policing and criminalizing poverty. Because, as the campaign said, “No one deserves to go to jail for $2.75.”