John Deutzman's Blog

Why does a few bad apples always have to spoil the whole bunch? Maybe there should be more pressure on those who investigate people who have a pattern of writing phoney tickets.

Correct me if I am wrong, but now they have changed thier system where they have to now scan each individual car, that makes it a bit harder to be deceptive. I don't see why more people who have had bogus tickets do not fight it. That is the sure way to get the ball rolling.

I sure would not pay one if I knew I was in the right...its hard to prove sometimes, I know. That is why I carry a camera in the car at all times, well for lots of other reasons as well.

John good point but let me add.

The scanners is bogus as well even if they properly scann you , I have been victim of this where they may ask you to move your car you move it with out incident but your car was already scanned then you get a ticket in the mail months later or better yet the Sheriff or Marshal is towing your car increasing the scam.

John, thanks for this report. You've very clearly shown what clear-headed, observant people have either known or suspected for years. The Traffic Violations department collects ticket fees unfairly. They are usually both arrogant and unresponsive when you have a dispute with them. There is a name for what they do already. It's called extortion and it is legally sanctioned by our own elected government. I doubt we'll see the new comptroller jump on this issue. That would be refreshing. Now we need to see where each of the 500 million dollars they collect is spent, especially the 100 million they probably collect unfairly. Where's all the money going?

Daniel

John,

Wow.. I guess that ticket writer was very dishonest. I think she should be held accountable for $ anyone has had to pay because of her.

I have the same debate with my dentist every 6 months, he says there should just be a tax on drivers, make away with parking meeters,and those who write the tickets, I say no matter what tickets will still have to be given to those who double park, block driveways..etc.

No end in sight :(

Michelle

Wow John..this is all informative and I think it as simple as, the tri state has more dishonest people that lets say WV. If a quota is what was the point then they should ticket honestly and on things that would benefit US.

On another side extortions by our protectors is very wrong. We pay taxes for service that is ruining our very souls.

My understanding about traffic violations is, all they have to do is be honest and ticket for the laws that are broken and the ticket holder step up to the plate and pay the dues. Unfortunately amoung our nation we have theives.

I have suspected for many years that, aside from the out and out "fake" tickets, you also have "real" tickets written and issued by people that obviously have a problem with reading and writing. They make mistakes, but don`t care, primarily because a lot of people do not scrutinize the ticket and just pay it. If you catch one that`s incorrect, you might get a break, but for the most part, the city takes the money, and the hell with ya!!!

I wanted to add one more thing to the discussion. A large part of the problem is a lack of logical ticketing priorities. As a few examples, vehicles that block or almost block traffic on a street should be high on the list as should cars blocking driveways and hydrants. Special attention should be paid to handicapped parking. Cars parked illegally in high traffic, commercial areas should also be heavily targeted. These are just a few examples of where ticketing agents and police officers should be concentrating their efforts if, indeed, the reason for ticketing is to help keep us all safe.
It often seems that officers go after easy targets, close to where they report in and mysteriously close to impound lots. I understand the need for parking enforcement. Is it really fair for the city to ticket and tow a personal vehicle from in front of a private residence in less than 5 minutes past the cutoff time? I'm speaking about a car being towed in seconds when it is not blocking anything. It may be technically legal, but does that make it right? What other possible reason could there be for this other than greed?


Daniel

one of the worst parts of this whole mess is that you can issue dozens of legitimate tickets a day and do it the right way...if you are not lazy or sloppy.

in fact, as far as moving violations go, i saw one cop in manhattan standing in the street catching people blowing red lights (a very dangerous thing to do) he could have issued more than a hundred that day because it happened about every five minutes. i have no problem with that.

i don't think the top brass in the nypd thinks it's even conceivable for ticket writters to make up tickets because there are so many good ones to write. they don't get why someone would be so stupid to risk their job making up fake tickets.

but they don't get the complaints from dozens of innocent victims we get about fake tickets.

dear yankees,

unfortunately, unless you have a real good provable alibi you're out of luck. the system is set up to presume the ticket writer is right and the person fighting the ticket needs to come in with powerful evidence to tilt the scale in their direction.
think carefully...on the date of that ticket..do you have e-z pass records, time coded videotape..parking receipts or anything that proves your car (not you but your car) wasn't in the city?
if not you're screwed...and if this is cause by a phony license plate you could have more on your way.

john

I have received my fair share of parking tickets and initially payed some and fought the ones that I felt i was in the right. I had not had a car in manhattan on purpose, i had to take a job that had me commuting to DC VA area after and due to Sep. 11th. Over last 7 years the tally is now at $2,000 for me and i did not have that money to spare. i have had to learn the hard and expensive way about all the little rules and interpretations of parking signs. I have been trying to do some repairs to my car and then sell it but this parking tik debt has overwhelmed me, as I have tried to keep up. Now I just have two left outstanding in judgement. one of them was one of 6 identical tickets same location all for same offense. they were invalid, I fought allthe ones i knew of at time, 5 and had all dismissed. one slipped by and i missed the appeal hearing due to being out of town unexpectedly longer due to a funeral. i have tried to get another hearing and Dep O Fin. refuses saying I am allowed only one and it was missed. Is there a higher up agency I could appeal to? Who oversees this rogue agency? Who do they answer to? I deal with this all the while I come close to death every day walking around streets of Manhattan with reckless drivers, speeding cars and all in front of NYPD'ers who look the other way. I routinely point out and ask a ticketing agents and other officers to issue summonses to cars blocking the box, running red lights, making dangerous illegal turns, protecting their turns at intersections with lights that give them protected turns, etc. and get responses (co