New York Meter Maids Falsify Tickets to Go on Break

[ohiosmith]

Four New York City meter maids arrested for making up parking tickets issued to forty-six drivers, mostly from out-of-state.

Four New York City, New York meter maids were arrested yesterday for issuing bogus tickets to downtown motorists. Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau filed felony forgery charges against Gregory Baird, 56; Davey Griffin, 30; and Raheem King, 26. Julian Fisher, 24, faces misdemeanor official misconduct charges.

"The tickets written by Griffin, King and Fischer were all issued while the agents sat in their patrol cars," the district attorney's statement explained. "They never left their patrol vehicles to actually serve a ticket on any driver or leave a ticket on a car windshield."

Baird is accused of using the same tactic while on foot. According to the complaint, the meter maids would write down license plates of cars seen in passing at the beginning of their shift. They would then relax knowing that, later, they would fulfill their quota by punching in those license plate numbers and making up an offense to record into their handheld ticketing computer. The four allegedly targeted out-of-state drivers from New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania who were unlikely to challenge the citations that were never placed on any vehicles.

Numerous motorists did take offense at the bogus overdue ticket notices that they received. After they bombarded the New York City Police Department with complaints, officials opened an investigation that placed the meter maids under surveillance in late June.

Forgery in the second degree carries a seven year prison sentence. Baird, Griffin and King also face counts of official misconduct, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument. These misdemeanors carry up to a year in jail as punishment. A meter maid in Queens was arrested for the same offense in May 2006.

[kay1864]

1. Funny...it appears those "maids" were all male!

No more doughnuts for you!

[Deja Q]

2. One has to wonder what they did with the doughnuts during their break...

Of course, that hole was probably way too large for anything other than eating around...

[ohiosmith]

4. Good catch.

[Hugin]

3. This is a problem inherent in establishing quotas on Law Enforcement...

:eyes:

[cloudbase]

5. Quotas, eh?

I'm sure the department will deny that there are any quotas.

[kay1864]

7. According to a book I read by a cop, it's yes and no

There aren't set quotas for tickets. However, they do post the number of tickets each officer wrote for the month. You don't want to consistently be on the bottom of the list, so you learn quickly how many you need to write to stay at least in the middle of the pack.

[JVS]

6. Crucify them!