Legal Question in Criminal Law in New York

In March of 2013 I received a citation for walking though Central Park with my girlfriend after hours. We went to the Broadway courthouse and received an ACD.

Yesterday I was on a beach with 5 other people when two cops approached us and asked for ID's. All 5 of the other individuals had a beer in front of them, however I clearly did not. The officers were nice and simply said: having a beer at the beach is not a problem if you put it in a cup or other non-identifiable container. However, the officers wrote only 2 tickets: to myself and another friend. He said that he did not want to write tickets for women (the other 4 friends were female). Since I had no alcohol near me and a friend of mine knew of my outstanding ACD she offered that the officer instead write her the ticket. The officer assured me several times that the violation (in Queens) would not affect my ACD (in Manhattan), and proceeded to write me a ticket. I am a PhD student. I apply and am funded primarily through federal avenues. I am also not sure what positions I may be applying to in the future so maintaining a clean record is of great interest to me.

To be clear, I had a drink earlier that day (never out a marked container of alcohol). I was by no means intoxicated and had no drink by me when the officers approached. Another thing to note is that I literally cannot read the title of offense.

My question is: Should I simple mail in the guilty plea and save time, and perhaps money? Or is it worth attempting to get this dismissed? I am somewhat confused about the timeline for being able to see the officer's actual allegations. I am under the impression that the content of the allegations largely determine whether a dismissal is likely.

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