Cautious drivers might want to steer clear of MTA bridges and tunnels.
Tipsy motorists are being given a free pass when they get pulled over on some of the crossings — because cuts have left police without enough manpower to arrest them, multiple law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Cops with the MTA’s Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority got a verbal mandate to ease up from their supervisors this year, sources said.
They were told the agency was severely restricting overtime, even though most cops and sergeants must put in extra hours to process an arrest, sources said.
“The agency is pressuring our sergeants, who, in turn, are forcing bridge and tunnel officers to cut law-breakers because the agency won’t pay overtime,” said one veteran bridge-and-tunnel cop.
“It’s crazy, because we have to let people go that we normally would arrest and confiscate their vehicle.”
Since late 2012, the MTA has reduced patrols on the Henry Hudson, Throgs Neck and Whitestone bridges because of manpower cuts, sources said.
That makes it difficult to process arrests, because TBTA rules mandate that an officer and sergeant have to be present, sources said.
As a result, cops are being told to overlook drivers who appear to have had only a few drinks — and they are discouraged from running checks on license plates, which could lead to arrests, sources said.
“It’s frustrating because we are paid to protect the public, but, in effect, we are being told to look the other way,” another officer said.
“There’s nothing we can do, nothing they can do because their orders are coming from the top. I have a guy I should be arresting, but I have to let him go because my shift ends in 45 minutes. It’s frustrating for everybody when we’re being forced not to do our jobs.”
Arrests have dropped significantly at the agency in the past 10 years, stats show.
There was high of about 1,800 collars in 2005. By 2012, there were 550, the lowest in the past 10 years.
“There is absolutely no directive in place to reduce arrests,” said MTA spokeswoman Judie Glave. “Any Bridges and Tunnels employee who would let an intoxicated or impaired driver through a TBTA toll plaza or checkpoint would be subject to disciplinary action.”
She said overall arrests are down because drivers know the TBTA has an aggressive DWI-enforcement program.
The TBTA, one source noted, is racking up DWI collars at the same pace as last year, with bridge-and- tunnel cops making 146 busts so far this year, up just one from the same period last year.