CAPTION.
CREDIT
Every 20 years, the NYPD goes through a scandal (“Inside the Big Tix Fix!” April 22).
In the 1970s it was Frank Serpico’s revelations of corruption, and in the 1990s it was the scandal with Michael Dowd & Co.
Now the NYPD has an estimated 400 cops in a ticket-fix scandal.
Somehow it’s very believable, but it’s nothing new.
Hugh McGee
Williamsport, Pa.
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Ticket-fixing has been going on for decades. In one instance, as a rookie sergeant, I received numerous complaints about cars doubled-parked outside Prospect Hall in Brooklyn.
I returned an hour later and the cars were still double-parked, blocking residents who were legally parked at the curb. Thirty tickets were written that day.
The next day, I was called in by the precinct commander who excoriated me because the owner of Prospect Hall was a friend of the borough commander.
All the tickets were removed from the summons box and destroyed, and I was transferred. So much for doing the right thing.
Robert McKenna
Staten Island
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Between the cops nixing tickets for pals and Attorney General Eric Holder not paying his property taxes on time, what is going on around here?
These men are a disgrace to America.
They should be grateful that they have jobs. Instead, they think they can get away with anything. Shame on them.
Margo Kent
North Truro, Mass.
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NYPD cops are targeting citizens again, issuing silly tickets.
There is no coincidence in the sudden increase in law enforcement and revenue needed to pay the pensions of big-wig cops.
Jon Wiseman
Manhattan
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While the practice of police officers fixing tickets for friends and relatives may be of concern, the issue deserves real consideration given the larger issue of summons goals.
Officers are under tremendous pressure to write more tickets in order to please local supervisors, who in turn are trying to please their bosses.
In many cases, union delegates are asked to use their clout to squash a summons that most likely wouldn’t have been written in the first place if it weren’t for quotas. Although courts have ruled quotas illegal, they are still enforced under other names, like productivity goals.
This practice must be completely ceased before any cop can be held accountable for helping a friend or relative deal with a ticket that was most likely issued under duress.
Charles Compton
The Bronx