‘Move your car!’ fix is in for plac-abuse cops
There’s no silence in this blue wall.
The NYPD unit created to crack down on placard abuse has been doing sweeps outside precinct station houses — but only after alerting the commands so cops can move their cars, police sources told The Post.
The 24-person unit formed by Mayor de Blasio in May is supposed to summons police and other public servants who misuse city-issued placards with their personal vehicles.
But members of the squad allegedly don’t want to write tickets to fellow cops and feel justified in subverting the mayor’s orders.
“They all got drafted, and they don’t wanna be there,” one police source griped.
The unit is phoning front desks and saying, “Listen, we’re going to be in such and such precinct; make sure nobody’s in violation,” the source said.
“They’re giving them a heads up that they’re coming into the commands. The commands are then notifying individual officers,” said a second source.
De Blasio formed the placard-abuse unit — composed of eight traffic-enforcement agents, eight police officers and eight sergeants — after he dished out 50,000 placards in an election-year gift to Department of Education personnel.
Since the unit’s creation, the city has issued 1,880 placard-related tickets, officials said. But police brass are not releasing a breakdown of the unit’s ticketing because it would show how few per-onal cop cars are being hit, sources said.
Critics say the 1,880 citations is not high enough and claim the tickets issued may be intentionally botched so a judge will toss them.
Department of Transportation-issued placards allow holders to “park in contradiction to parking rules when the vehicle is essential to the performance of their orga- nizational functions,” according to city law.
Cops often block hydrants or park on sidewalks, because legal spaces near station houses are scarce, and because they need to be able to take off at a moment’s notice in the case of an emergency, the sources argued.
NYPD spokesman J. Peter Donald disputed allegations that cops were being forewarned.
“There’s absolutely no truth to any of the accusations,” he said.
They’re giving them a heads up. Source on how cops abusing parking-placard privileges are avoiding summonses.