Sep 22, 2006 9:21 pm US/Eastern
CBS 2 Investigates: NYPD Privileged Parking
Traffic Agents Take Your Spots, Hide Behind Placards
by Scott Weinberger
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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This officer parked a personal vehicle in front of a hydrant before heading in to the courthouse.
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A man who claimed on tape to be an NYPD detective is caught on the digital camera of Jan Lee. The Chinatown businessman said he was detained by this man for taking pictures of police officers' personal cars parked illegally.
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This car is clearly parked illegally and sported a placard that expired in December 2005.
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Anyone who drives in New York City knows that competition for parking spots is fierce. Wouldn't it be nice if you had special privileges to park anywhere and never get a ticket? Some City workers apparently do, in what amounts to a double standard.
Just outside of the Long Island City headquarters of the NYPD's Traffic Control Division, we found dozens of illegally parked cars. Cars were parked at expired meters, at fire hydrants, on sidewalks, and even in crosswalks and not a single one was ticketed. We saw block after block of prime parking, taken up by illegally parked personal cars of the men and woman who write you tickets -- NYPD Traffic Enforcement Agents.
Wearing a hidden camera, CBS 2 cameraman Steve Noon asked agents, as they were getting off shift and returning to their cars, why they were parked illegally.
"Earlier we were trying to park and we noticed there were a lot of traffic officers that parked here and the meters were expired," Steve said to one agent sitting in her car.
"That's because they have a placard in their window, everybody else has to pay if you don't have a placard," the agent said.
"So if you have a placard, you don't have to pay?" asked Noon. "Right," responded the agent.
"What makes them better than me? We both work for the City. I need a parking spot too," said Matthew Lange, a teacher at nearby Frank Sinatra High School.
"I have to park ten blocks away just to walk to my job when there are plenty of meters all around," he added.
But those metered spots are all occupied by agents' cars. And the meters are all expired.
Expired parking meters were only the beginning. There were dozens of cars, parked in "No Parking" and "No Standing" zones all displaying NYPD traffic enforcement placards.
"Can I park on this street?" Noon asked another agent. She replied, "It's tricky, everyone parks here. There is a 'No Parking' sign, but it's not being enforced."
When asked if the personal cars of traffic agents are ever ticketed, a traffic enforcement supervisor said, "This is a self enforced area."
"When we come in early in the morning, we have to park somewhere, we don't have a parking lot. I don't know why they don't give us one," an agent said.
Yet we found plenty of commercial parking lots nearby, but the agents would have to pay to park their cars there, just like the rest of us.
If you have a story idea for Scott Weinberger, please e-mail him at cbs2investigations@cbs.com
June 25, 2003: Exclusive: Cops Parking Their Cars Wherever They Please June 27, 2003: NYC Parking Scandal Continues To GrowDo you have a parking problem in your neighborhood?
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