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Oh, Duh: Ticket-Fixing Has Always Existed, Says Police Union
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 20, 2011
Modified Apr 20, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 20, 2011
Modified Apr 20, 2011
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Last week, a grand jury probe began targeting approximately 40 cops from all 12 Bronx precincts, including delegates from the city's largest police union, for a ticket-fixing scheme. Then last weekend, it came out that the probe may have expanded to all five boroughs, and as many as 400 cops could face disciplinary charges as a result. But according to the president of one of those police unions, that's all ok, see, because everyone does it all the time, and has always done it!
Edward D. Mullins, the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, the union for the NYPD's 12,000 front-line supervisors, has recorded an audio message calling on current and retired members of the force to come forward with testimonials about the beneficiaries of ticket-fixing. He wrote a public letter which went up on the union's site last night, vigorously defending the conduct of those police officers caught in the probe:
This current investigation into extending police courtesies by hardworking rank and file police officers is ludicrous. If the truth were to be told, it is hard to call such practices acts of corruption when the culture of extending courtesies to members and their families within the NYPD has existed since the day the very first summons was ever written.
This is no secret, nor has it ever been a secret. Anyone who has ever worked in the department is aware that this occurred. We only need to look back to August 3, 2010, when a New York Post article highlighted an incident in which the Chief of the Internal Affairs Bureau voided a summons for the Chief Surgeon of the NYPD. There was no public outcry or call for an arrest.
I have been on the job for nearly three decades, and during that entire time it was never deemed unusual to get calls from high-ranking department members when a summons was given to their family members or friends, as well as elected officials, members of the judiciary, business executives, celebrities, athletes and physicians, clergy members, district attorneys or others.
These phone calls were as much a part of the culture of the department as arresting criminals. If the culture needs to be changed, then change it. But to criminalize these actions and demonize so many hardworking officers is dehumanizing, demeaning and downright wrong. This entire investigation seems predicated on showmanship and self-aggrandizement.
It was a surprisingly forceful show of camaraderie, but if it's always been an open secret to cops, no one seems to have told investigators, who have been working on this probe for the last year. According to the Times, IAB and the office of the Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, have interviewed dozens of officers, set up layers of surveillance and identified several high-profile targets since catching wind of the ticket-fixing scandal emerged on a wiretap in a separate police corruption inquiry.
But at the very least, Mullins told the News that the investigation is a double standard, and he doubts many if any of the NYPD higher-ups will be arrested or face internet charges: "If they're going to do this for cops and for sergeants then there should be accountability all the way to the top. You never see a precinct commander getting in trouble for something like this."
Tagged
bronx
cops
nypd
parking tickets
Probe
ticket-fixing
ticket-fixing scheme
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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