Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced the launch of a digitized placard reader program in north Brooklyn, a major step toward cracking down on abuse and ensuring public servants use their parking privileges appropriately. Starting next week, NYPD’s Traffic Enforcement Agents in Patrol Borough Brooklyn North will be equipped to validate issued parking permits with handheld electronic devices. The devices will allow agents to determine if the placard was legitimately issued; if it belongs to the vehicle it’s placed in; and if it’s being used in accordance with the privileges it confers.
NYPD has issued 43,000 parking summonses to improperly parked vehicles displaying placards in 2021 alone – a 21% increase from 2020.
“Placard abuse clogs our streets and weakens New Yorkers’ trust in the government that serves them. There’s no place for it in our city, and I’m proud to take this next step toward a fairer and more accountable system,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“The NYPD recognizes that we play a valuable role in reducing the times when drivers make calculated decisions to use a placard to park in violation of parking rules. These decisions not only jeopardize the safety of other road users and cause congestion, but also erode the public’s trust in the NYPD and other government employees,” said NYPD Chief of Transportation Kim Y. Royster. “The NYPD is fortunate to now have access to advanced technology that will directly reduce the number of times city employees can misuse their parking privileges while simultaneously allowing on-scene enforcement to verify the validity of a vehicle’s presence.”
“Placard abuse has no place in New York City and we are grateful to Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD for launching this program to help strengthen enforcement and keep our streets safe,” said Department of Transportation Commissioner Hank Gutman. “The DOT has joined our sister agencies in sharing our placard data with the NYPD to help end this type of corruption.”
This program’s phased rollout will begin in north Brooklyn, with a special emphasis on downtown Brooklyn. It will expand to lower Manhattan by mid-January, and to the rest of the city by the end of January. By 2022, all placards will be replaced with vehicle stickers.
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