New York, NY - As many as 200 undercover NYPD cars are on the streets without proper Department of Motor Vehicle registrations because of a bizarre battle with the city’s Finance Department over $1 million in unpaid tickets owed by cops, DNAinfo.com has learned.
Each of the NYPD scofflaw vehicles is carrying at least three unpaid tickets on its record within an 18-month period, sources said.
And they also say the number of unregistered NYPD cars in use in violation of state laws is mounting every week as the two city agencies squabble over the tab.
The issue stems from unmarked cop cars that get slapped with summonses for parking illegally or are caught on tape running red lights in intersections under surveillance in the city’s Red Light Camera Program.
“The whole thing is insane,” one law enforcement official said. “This is one city agency wanting to collect money from another city agency, but everyone is under the same financial umbrella. “It’s a debacle,” the official said. Debacle or not, the two sides could not be farther apart.
Just a couple of days ago, the unmarked NYPD car that is used to drive Sen. Charles Schumer around New York was parked in a “No Standing Zone” a couple of blocks north of City Hall on Duane Street.
Schumer was out of town in Washington voting on the nation’s debt ceiling issue. But his bodyguard — an NYPD detective assigned to the Intelligence Division’s Municipal Protection Unit — was using the car on other official business.
He left an NYPD parking placard in the window. When he returned 10 minutes later, he found his car was gone, towed to the pound.
He notified Police Headquarters and, left with no recourse, he made his way over to the pound along Manhattan’s West Side. He reached into his pocket and paid $185 to get his NYPD unmarked car back.
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