Cops: We spy in subways to meet tix quotas
ROBERT F. MOORE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU
May 8, 2006—Yankees fans, behave — you're being watched.
Transit cops in the Bronx are hiding out in secret rooms at subway
stations near Yankee Stadium to catch more fare-beaters and scofflaws,
police sources told the Daily News.
The peekaboo policing has led to a string of arrests — and
allegations by disgruntled cops that their commanding officer has
imposed an illegal ticket-writing quota.
In a recent directive to cops in Transit District 11, NYPD Capt.
Johnny Cardona admonished some officers for not writing enough tickets
and told them they would not get overtime money unless they handed
out more summonses.
"We had a few personnel in certain squads that did not perform
to standard," Cardona wrote in the April 18 memo obtained by
The News. "So, effective immediately, those individuals will
not be authorized programmatic overtime."
Cardona said he would evaluate the cops and possibly change their
assignments if they haven't written more tickets by the time he
returns from military leave later this month.
"I have been extremely patient about this and quite frankly,
I am fed up," he wrote. "I am a fair person and will not
tolerate anyone getting over while everyone else is pulling their
load. I will see you about this soon!"
The memo does not mention a numerical goal — a key omission
that would seem to shield Cardona from charges of imposing an illegal
quota.
NYPD brass supported his actions.
"A good manager makes sure everyone pulls their weight. He
doesn't let a few idlers escape their duty at the expense of the
majority of active police officers," said Deputy Police Commissioner
Paul Browne.
"The captain addressed substandard performance by a few, and
praised outstanding work by the rest. That's not quotas. That's
leadership."
But a police source said Cardona has ordered that every transit
cop write 12 summonses per month — drawing the ire of the
city's largest police union.
"Management can call them whatever they want, but when punitive
action follows a failure to write a target number of summonses,
then it is an illegal quota," said Patrick Lynch, president
of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. "Quotas are bad
because they can interfere with our ability to fight serious crime
and make for poor police-community relations."
In January, a city arbitrator ruled that the NYPD had an illegal
ticket-quota system in the 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn.
PBA officials have argued that police supervisors have imposed
quotas in some fashion all across the city — charges that
NYPD brass have strongly denied.
However, a cop assigned to Transit District 11 said officers in
subways hide out in unmarked transit offices, janitor closets and
bathrooms — peering out doors and windows to catch turnstile
jumpers and other scofflaws.
"I've done it myself," the cop said. "It's pretty
easy. Nine out of 10 of them don't run."
Preventing the crimes before they happen is not encouraged, the
cop said.
"We could stand out there and prevent it, but then no one
would jump the turnstile," he said. "If you want to get
your numbers, you have to catch them in the act."
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