An NYPD officer or employee who made headlines for being caught on camera for 11 serious moving violations in five years has moved on to more serious recklessness — he or she has received 12 more speed camera violations in the last 12 months.
Streetsblog first reported on the NYPD-employed owner of the red Honda with the NY license plate FLP8938 in March, 2019, as part of our year-long "s-cop-laws" series on recklessly driving police officials. At the time, the driver, who works at the 78th Precinct in Park Slope, had received eight speeding tickets and three red-light tickets from cameras between July, 2013 and February, 2018. He or she has racked up eight more since the COVID-19 crisis struck, part of a string of 12 speeding tickets dating back to June 5, 2019.
Last year, as a result of our coverage, Mayor de Blasio that he would put into place a new process to discipline cops who drive recklessly.
If indeed that process has been put into place, it hasn't stopped the driver of the red Honda. Since our story ran, the driver of this car has received these speeding tickets (note: the 78th Precinct station house is fairly close to Atlantic Avenue, which provides some context for many of the tickets below; the officer may live in Broad Channel or the Rockaways, given how many tickets are from cameras there):
- June 5, 2019: camera at Kings Hwy. at E. 94th St.
- July 11, 2019: camera at Atlantic Ave. at Clermont Ave.
- Nov. 29, 2019: camera at Beach Channel Dr. and Beach 104th St. in Rockaway.
- Dec. 31, 2019: camera at Cross Bay Blvd. at Shad Creek Rd. in Broad Channel.
- March 31, 2020: camera at Atlantic Ave. at Clermont Ave.
- April 14, 2020: camera at Atlantic Ave. at Brooklyn Ave.
- April 22, 2020: camera at Atlantic Ave. at Clermont Ave.
- May 14, 2020: camera at Atlantic Ave. at Clermont Ave.
- May 14, 2020 (second ticket): camera at Cross Bay Blvd. at Shad Creek Rd. in Broad Channel.
- May 20, 2020: camera at Atlantic Ave. at Clermont Ave.
- May 28, 2020: camera at Atlantic Ave. at Clermont Ave.
- June 2, 2020: camera at Cross Bay Blvd. at Shad Creek Rd. in Broad Channel.
(Note: We know that the owner of the car is a police employee because we only run the plates of cars parked in NYPD-only parking or parked illegally with NYPD placards.)
It's not the first time one of Streetsblog's s-cop-law officers has returned to these pages for continued transgressions after our first coverage.
In December, we wrote about a cop or NYPD employee with a white BMW, license plate GLN7275, who had gotten five camera-issued speeding tickets in just the four months since our first story appeared. (He or she has since received another speed-camera ticket since our follow-up story ran, by the way — evidence of how dangerously police officers drive, even when they are aware they are being monitored for it).
The recidivism of the most reckless police employees is especially alarming, given that the mayor had promised in December to discipline officers who rack up too many points on their licenses — and, for the first time, camera-issued tickets would count (the state Department of Motor Vehicles does not count camera-issued tickets against a driver's license, even though each camera ticket would earn a driver at least four points because the cameras only issue a ticket when a driver exceeds the speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour; a license is suspended whenever a driver obtains 11 points in any 18-month period).
The mayor had promised that NYPD employees would have their driving records reviewed — for points and for camera violations — every year when they apply to renew their parking placards, which permit placard holders to park in designated spaces, but as a practical matter, allow them to park wherever they want because traffic enforcement agents rarely write tickets to their colleagues in the NYPD.
That's why camera enforcement is so valuable. That said, it is unclear how many officers have lost their placards as a result of reckless driving. We reached out to the NYPD on Sunday and was told we would have an answer today, only to be told we would not. We will update this story if anything changes.
The Streetsblog investigation revealed that NYPD officers or employees are caught on camera speeding or running red lights at twice the rate of the general public.
