The NYPD Was Ticketing Legally Parked Cars; Open Data Put an End to It (tumblr.com)

Data analyst Ben Wellington claims that that the NYPD has been systematically ticketing legally parked cars for years. Doing so, he says, helps NYPD collect millions of dollars every year. In a blog post, Wellington notes about a change of law in 2008 (PDF) which allowed one in New York City to park their car in front of a sidewalk pedestrian ramp -- provided it's not connected to a crosswalk. Despite this, the NYPD continues to ticket people. To check how many more people are falling for this, Wellington looked into NYC's Open Data portal, and his findings are startling. In front of 575 Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, which is in the middle of the block, with no crosswalk, over $48,000 in parking fines were issued in the last 2.5 years. He writes: 1705 Canton Avenue in Brooklyn, 273 Tickets, $45,045: Legal. 270-05 76 Avenue in Queens, 256 Tickets ($42,440) Legal. 143-49 Cherry Ave, Queens, 246 Tickets, ($40,590). Legal. A spot in Battery Park, ranked #16 on my list and the top spot in Manhattan, had 116 tickets ($19,140) and turned out to be legal.Wellington wrote to the NYPD about this, and he got the following response: Mr. Wellington's analysis identified errors the department made in issuing parking summonses. It appears to be a misunderstanding by officers on patrol of a recent, abstruse change in the parking rules. We appreciate Mr. Wellington bringing this anomaly to our attention. The department's internal analysis found that patrol officers who are unfamiliar with the change have observed vehicles parked in front of pedestrian ramps and issued a summons in error. When the rule changed in 2009 to allow for certain pedestrian ramps to be blocked by parked vehicles, the department focused training on traffic agents, who write the majority of summonses.

Comments

Re: Power WILL be abused

[Anonymous Coward]

I noticed there was no mention of refunding the illegal ticket fines. Typical, sure we'll try to get them to stop but why would you get any money back?

Democracy

[CauseBy]

This is democracy in action. It isn't perfect, but good luck trying to get a King to change like that.

I grew up in Anchorage in the 1990s. We were so fed up with overzealous parking enforcement that we disbanded the parking authority by referendum.

After that only uniformed police officers could write tickets. That was a much more tolerable and balanced level of enforcement.

Re:Democracy

[Solandri]

A better way would be to decouple fines from the government revenue stream. Instead of fines for things like parking tickets going into the city coffers, it goes into a trust fund. Every year on April 15, each tax filer gets a proportional share of the total value of that fund applied to their taxes. The fine is punishment for doing something which harms the public, and that money is redistributed to the public which was harmed. No middleman (government) manipulating it to their advantage.

The city no longer has an incentive to overzealously issue parking tickets, and manpower is instead devoted to things that matter, like violent crime and the occasional illegal parking which actually endangers people (parking in front of hydrants, blocking driveways, etc).

Re:Power WILL be abused

[Agent0013]

On the one hand, I kinda agree with you. Let the cops issue whatever tickets they want, and let it be hashed out in the courts. It's no different from letting anyone sue anyone else for anything, and letting it get hashed out in the courts. On the other hand, then you get things like "I'm innocent, but it's too much of a hassle to prove, so I'll just pay the damn fine", and I feel that cops, or hell, government in general, should be held to a standard that discourages such practices.

And I also support the use of deadly force as self defense against the "mafia in blue". If they break the law so frequently with no consequences, then they are no longer the upholders of the law. They are just another criminal organization and defending yourself against them trying to kidnap or shoot you is perfectly acceptable.

Only a ticket? Meh...

[damn_registrars]

I lived for a while in a place where car theft was legal - if you happened to own an impound lot. My car was stolen by such a lot owner from my reserved, paid, contract parking spot and the city wouldn't do shit to help me. I tried to report my car as stolen but the police would hear nothing of it. I had to pay a ransom to the thieves to get my car back, and the towing inspector refused to help as well. Being as the thieves had plenty of experience (and assistance) in the court system you can imagine how well that went as well...

Basically I would have much rather had a ticket. A ticket doesn't do front end damage to my car or force me to go through hell trying to pursue some semblance of justice. I've fought unjust traffic tickets before (and won) but the city wouldn't help me when my car was stolen by crooked bastards.

P E R J U R Y !!

[redelm]

When a cop signs a ticket [summons] they are swearing they have observed the offense. Without sworn testimony, no default [missed appearance] judgement and punishment can be legally imposed. If a copy writes ticket s/he knows is bad, s/he's just committed perjury.

Unfortunately, prosecutors most places rely heavily on police to build their cases, so are extremely reluctant to prosecute police. When they must, they use clever ticks to sabotage their own cases (Rodney King). Clear corruption, albeit without bribes.

True errors are made in both directions -- when mistakes always run in the makers favor, it is something else.