![]() Likewise, the PBA does not determine where or how the NYPD deploys its personnel. “Each police officer determines how to exercise that discretion based on the specifics of each case. The law and NYPD policies afford police officers discretion in taking enforcement action. ![]() As a result of a ticketing quota system, this means “police officers are forced to disproportionately ticket minority drivers”.Ī spokesperson for the Police Benevolent Association said it did “not set policies regarding the way that police officers perform their duties. White drivers in the borough, the complaint said, “are significantly more likely to have courtesy cards than minority drivers”. Staten Island, where Bianchi patrolled, is predominantly white. He claimed that the practice of selective law enforcement, including giving the cards away in exchange for a discount on a meal or a home improvement job, comes with a component of racial bias. “This is not only corrupt but it’s a safety issue.” “Even though my car stop was a standard stop with no confrontation I am still being retaliated against solely because the motorist I summonsed knows a chief and that chief is now mad at me,” he wrote in a complaint quoted in the suit. He then filed with the NYPD internal affairs bureau. Three days later, he claims, he was off traffic duty and on a night patrol shift.īianchi filed an anonymous complaint with the city’s department of investigation but withdrew it when he claims he was told it would have to be on the record. The woman never mentioned to Bianchi that she knew Maddrey, and the stop was “unremarkable”, according to the lawsuit.īianchi claims he was later warned by a lieutenant that the stop “pissed off someone very high up”, and that Maddrey had called the precinct commander to demand that Bianchi be punished. ![]() In the complaint, Bianchi claims the NYPD violated his first amendment right to speak out as a citizen regarding a matter of extreme public concern, “namely widespread corruption, illegal practices and the manipulation of issuance” of traffic tickets due to courtesy cards.īianchi’s service as a traffic cop ended last summer when he wrote a ticket to a friend of the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, the lawsuit states. ![]() She still complained about the speeding ticket despite being given a break on the light as a result of her PBA card. In one instance, he issued a ticket for speeding to a woman who’d blown through a red light. Still, Bianchi continued, ultimately writing up traffic stops in which he in effect ignored or questioned courtesy cards carried by fellow cops’ family members and friends. “We’re not supposed to be showing favoritism when we do car stops, and we shouldn’t be giving them out because the guy mows my lawn.”īianchi told his precinct commander that he did not agree with the courtesy card policy and claims he was told: “Is it better to be right or better to be on patrol?” The lawsuit cites several instances where his NYPD colleagues complained about his ticket-writing, including on Facebook. You’re not allowed to write any of them ,” he told the Associated Press. In some instances, the complaint said, Bianchi was reprimanded for writing a ticket to a relative or parent of an officer in others, his commanding officer reviewed body-camera footage to see if he was giving motorists with cards a “hard time”. According to Bianchi, who is Cuban-American, courtesy cards are used to maintain a system of impunity – a “get-of-jail-free card” for families and friends of NYPD officers to avoid traffic tickets, a growing source of revenue for the city.īianchi claims his superiors retaliated against him for his stance against the “corrupt” cards after he was warned by an official with the Police Benevolent Association, New York City’s largest police union, that he would not be protected by his union if he wrote tickets for people with cards. If any questions arise related to the information contained in the translated website, please refer to the English version.What happened next is the subject of a lawsuit against the city and a police captain. Any discrepancies or differences created in the translation are not binding and have no legal effect for compliance or enforcement purposes. 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