-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">
</A> -Cui Bono?-
http://www.mostnewyork.com/2000-02-
10/News_and_Views/Crime_File/a-563
45.asp
Cops Spot Stolen Car —
& Give It 36 Tickets
Early on the morning of Jan. 20, Doug
Mennella phoned the 78th Precinct
stationhouse in Brooklyn to report that his car had
been stolen from Fiske Place in Park Slope. Two
officers came to take his report.
And while one arm of the Police Department was
treating Mennella with the care and courtesy
promised to crime victims, another arm was busy
with more customary activities.
Already that morning, at 6:17, an Officer
Rodriguez from the 84th Precinct had issued four
tickets to the car, which the thief had dumped near
Cadman Plaza. The four tickets were for missing plates
— front and rear — and missing stickers.
At 9:45 that morning, an Officer Temple from the
84th Precinct wrote an additional five tickets —
for the exact same stuff and, for good measure, an
expired meter.
If you're keeping track, that's nine tickets issued in
three hours by Officers Temple and Rodriguez.
But we are not done yet.
Over the 11 days that Doug Mennella's car was
missing, it was ticketed 36 times. The same two
cops — Temple and Rodriguez — cluster-bombed
his valiant little 1988 Honda Civic with at least 25
tickets.
By the time a diligent officer recognized the car as
stolen, the Honda had racked up $1,740 in tickets.
"The last cop actually checked to see if it was
stolen when he wrote the ticket," said Mennella,
30, a computer programmer who works in
midtown and takes the subway to his job.
Here's how the cops worked over the Mennella
car on Jan. 19, a banner day.
At 5:16 a.m., four tickets were issued by an
officer with an illegible name.
An hour later, at 6:15, four more tickets were
issued by Officer Rodriguez.
There was a temporary respite. Perhaps from
exhaustion or an epidemic of writer's cramp,
absolutely no tickets were issued for two hours.
At 8:22, Officer Temple arrived and doled out
four tickets.
Some might think the word "insane" applies here,
but the word "quota" ought to ring some bells.
To be fair, Jan. 19 was one day before Mennella
reported his car stolen, since his part of Park
Slope only has alternate-side-of-the-street parking
once a week. So the three officers who issued 12
tickets within three hours, for identical offenses,
didn't know it was a stolen car.
"Still, there was something very strange about all the
tickets," says Mennella. "Every one of them had my
license plate number written across the top."
Somehow, the lack of plates and stickers was no
handicap to identifying the plate number.
For several days after Mennella's Honda was
reported stolen, it continued to be bombed with
tickets. On the 21st, he got four more for the
missing plate and registrations.
Officer Temple checked in for his last hurrah with the
Honda on Jan. 24, when he wrote six summonses.
"We don't normally do that," said a Police
Department spokeswoman when asked about the
piles of summonses. "We're researching it to see if
there was misconduct."
On Feb. 1, Officer James White issued, in an act
of extraordinary restraint, just one last summons —
for missing plates — and had the Honda towed to the
pound for stolen cars.
Before it could be released to Mennella, however, he
had to clear up the tickets.
The parking judge was not impressed by the paper
issued by the 78th Precinct cops when Mennella
reported the car stolen. Mennella was to produce
the official report. However, the official report goes
to Albany from the stationhouse and does not come
back
until springtime.
Also, the parking judge thought it highly unlikely
that the Police Department would issue so many tickets
for a car that was stolen. Mennella had to cough up
the $1,740, which he is appealing; with a spreading
mass of paper evidence, he is sure to win.
Still, he can't get the car back — unless he's ready
to open his wallet again.
Another $1,300 for fees was assessed by the
pound where his car was towed — a figure that
grows at a spectacular rate.
"They charge $150 a day for storage," explained
Mennella.
Mennella barely uses the car.
"My family borrows it on weekends to visit my
grandmother," he said. "My sister used it to move some
furniture."
He handed over a copy of the paperwork that the
officers gave him when he reported the car stolen.
"Please let us know if you have any suggestions on how
we can better serve you," the form said.
"I called Internal Affairs," said Mennella.
What did they say?
"The person who took my complaint was
defending what the cops did," he said.
Original Publication Date: 02/10/2000
--
Kathleen
"I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility
against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
- Thomas Jefferson (1800)
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