New York City police officers will “address” the problem of illegal parking in the city’s crosswalks after the U.S. Department of Justice threatened to sue the police over the issue, officials said.
“Combat parking,” the long-standing tradition of leaving police cars perpendicular to the curb around the city’s 77 precincts, has been cited as a serious civil rights issue affecting people with disabilities. In a letter written by Damien Williams to the New York City Police Department:United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Meera Joshi, New York City’s deputy mayor for government, said the matter was “highly unacceptable” after officials were questioned about the Justice Department threat on Tuesday.
“Vehicles that obstruct the path of pedestrians, especially those with limited mobility, are unacceptable. It is extremely unacceptable when it is a government employee’s vehicle,” Joshi told reporters. “So this is an issue that we take seriously and we intend to address it.”
The city’s latest action and revelation of the Justice Department’s letter sent in March comes after the Post reported earlier this month about the NYPD’s sudden crackdown on the practice.
But the Justice Department wants hard evidence that parking rules are being enforced, citing a recent study that found police and city vehicles obstruct sidewalks in 91% of precincts.
And despite widespread reports of “combative parking,” the NYPD has issued only 80 disciplinary actions or permit revocations over the past two years, according to city records.
Mr Williams told police that illegal combat parking carries a parking penalty of up to five days, and that the law requires a parking permit to be completely revoked after “three occurrences of unauthorized use”. I made sure to ask for it.
The Department of Justice is currently requiring the NYPD to submit quarterly reports on police parking complaints for the next three years. The report should also include any corrective actions taken by the department.
To accomplish this, the police department was tasked with creating a new way for the public to file complaints whenever a police or city vehicle is spotted blocking a crosswalk.
Williams also wants the NYPD to implement new parking policies for city vehicles and for the city to provide training to traffic enforcement officers to police violators.
“If the Attorney General determines that voluntary compliance cannot be ensured to correct the deficiencies identified in this letter, the Attorney General may file suit under the ADA,” Williams’ letter warns. .
The Justice Department declined to elaborate on the threat in response to questions from the Post.
An NYPD spokesperson told the Post that the department is reviewing the Justice Department’s letter.
The Justice Department’s involvement follows a scathing 44-page report released earlier this month by the city’s Bureau of Investigation, which found that rules are sometimes ignored in the NYPD’s “self-enforcement zones” around police subdivisions. It all stems from this.
The NYPD had “no written policy or procedure regarding self-regulated zones, and parking enforcement rates within the zones were significantly lower than outside the zones,” the DOI wrote.
