108th Precinct Cracks Down on Sidewalk Parking — NYPD Placard Holders Not Included
The 108th Precinct, in Long Island City, wants locals to know police take illegal parking seriously, so long as the driver doesn’t have a police placard.
All over the city, streets and sidewalks in the vicinity of NYPD precincts are jammed with illegally parked cars that belong to cops. Conditions outside 108th Precinct are particularly awful. Lined with combat-parked NYPD vehicles and cops’ personal cars, the sidewalks on 50th Avenue between Vernon Boulevard and Fifth Street, where the station house is located, are virtually impassable.
After “numerous” complaints from residents and Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer’s office, on Wednesday the precinct assured the public that it had gotten the message, announcing a ticket sweep.
But police only summonsed the handful of vehicles that didn’t have placards. Macartney Morris, chair of the Transportation Alternatives Queens committee, counted four tickets among 30 to 40 cars parked on the sidewalk.
As of Thursday morning, tweeted Rodrigo Salazar, it was business as usual on 50th Avenue.
“The Patrol Guide specifically reminds officers there’s no situation where they can use their placard to park on the sidewalk,” wrote watchdog @placardabuse. “Since the officers benefit from using their positions to break the law, this is clear-cut misconduct.”
Misconduct schmisconduct. A year into Mayor de Blasio’s “crackdown,” cops and other placard-holding city employees know they can still leave their personal vehicles anywhere they damn well please.
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