Legal Commentary

albany police pass out parking protection

By David A. Giacalone

.. “Better get me that scraper, Honey.” . .

.. It’s not as helpful as a Monopoly Get Out of Jail Free Card.  And it might not be as powerful as Captain America’s Shield.  But, a little red and blue bull’s-eye sticker has been protecting Albany, NY, police officers and their friends and lovers from parking fines for at least 15 years. See “Free ride from tickets: ‘Bull’s-eye’ stickers from Albany police union give ‘pass’ on fines to hundreds” (Albany Times Union, by Brendan J. Lyons, Nov. 15, 2008); plus 810 WGY News.

As TU reporter Brendan J. Lyons explained in an article yesterday: 

“An untold number of ‘ghost’ parking tickets that carry no fines have been issued to the private vehicles of Albany police officers, their spouses, friends and civilians employed by the city under an informal practice that dates back years and involves a secret system of coded windshield stickers, the Times Union has learned.

“Several police officers and other people familiar with the matter said the system was developed more than 15 years ago as a way to provide free on-street parking to police officers attending court hearings in their personal vehicles. But over the years, they said, the practice has expanded and arguably been abused as many people who are not police officers, including bar owners and friends of officers, have been provided the secret, red and blue ‘bull’s-eye’ stickers that are affixed to a vehicle’s windshield just above the registration.”

Public servants giving themselves the equivalent of Park-Here-Free Cards may seem like a tiny little abuse, but it’s the kind of special treatment that helps turn citizens into cynics.  (You may recall that we wrote about parking abuse by officials around Schenectady’s City Hall back in March of this year.)  I’m especially bemused by the fact that the courageous heroes in the Albany police union were not available for comment, while Chief James W. Tuffey says he was unaware of the bull’s-eye stickers, despite the fact that they are (according to the TU) “visible on the windshields of dozens — if not hundreds — of cars around the city, including many vehicles parked at police headquarters.”  I’m reassured, naturally, that Tuffey says:

”If there’s something out there that’s been abused I’m going to deal with it.”

Of course, it ain’t just the cops taking advantage of Captain America’s Shield.  The Times Union tells us:

“Spot checks of vehicles parked on city streets near the Albany County courthouse, Family Court and City Hall showed that ”courtesy” parking tickets are routinely issued to private vehicles of people who work for the district attorney’s office and the sheriff’s department.”

You get the point.  But, do they? 

Wanna bet that quite a few friends of the Albany FOP were out scraping a little bull’s-eye sticker from their windshields yesterday?

Noon Update: With a little nudge from Scott Greenfield I searched a bit more and found a picture of the Albany police bulls-eye sticker at the TU Read & React weblog, where you’ll find over a hundred reader comments.  I’ve added part of the TU image, with the sticker above a Registration Tag, near the top of this post.

just arrived ?
their dog sniffs
our tires

steady rain
a pickle
in the parking lot

?? by Tom Clausen - Upstate Dim Sum (2003/II)

Full post as published by f/k/a . . . on November 16, 2008 (boomark / email).