Harlem man uses 311 to fight illegal police parking, to no avail
NYPD officers accused of illegal parking in Harlem
The NYPD is beginning to crack down on an unlikely culprit behind parking abuse... their own officers. FOX 5 New York speaks with one Harlem resident who has caught hundreds of police vehicles parked illegally but says nothing is being done about it.
HARLEM - Harlem resident, Christopher Volpe is a citizen activist of sorts.
A collection of his photos, which he has been taking since moving to Harlem last year, shows cars illegally parked, from being half on the sidewalk to completely on the sidewalk, even blocking bike lanes and blocking lanes of traffic, all around West 123rd Street.
But what makes these illegal parking jobs unique is that it appears it is the law that is breaking the law.
The vehicles in question surround the NYPD’s 28th Precinct station house.
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Volpe says the illegal parking is basically free parking for the high percentage of NYPD officers who live outside New York City.
So Volpe did what the city asks civilians to do when confronted with illegal parking: call 3-1-1.
The Harlem resident did just that 232 times. But in every case, he says, the complaint was marked resolved when it was not.
Asked why, Volpe responded, "Because they don't care and also because there's nobody following up on them. The buck stops with them, there is no oversight."
Currently, the NYPD itself provides oversight for NYPD parking. At a New York City Council hearing two weeks ago, its Chief of Patrol said illegal parking at precincts is his pet peeve as he described a new internal crackdown.
"We've issued command disciplines where we take the time from the officers for this. We've given negative what we call Craft watch, which affects their yearly evaluation." Testified NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, "I've been in this seat for about four months now. It's one of my one of my priorities."
The NYPD says they have ordered thousands of inspections outside precincts and are making announcements at the beginning of each shift for officers to park legally. But critics say it clearly is not working and are putting their hopes on the backs of two bills before the City Council.
One bill would revoke tens of thousands of parking permits from city agencies. The other would allow civilians to report illegal parking directly to the Department of Transportation.
The pair of bills were introduced by City Councilmember Lincoln Restler from Brooklyn.
At the City Council hearing he demanded action saying, "Never in my entire life have I not seen cars illegally parked on the sidewalk. And I tell you, I have nine precincts in my district. It is ubiquitous at every one of them."