A writer for the Associated Press drew a strange conclusion when he/she write of a decline in parking violations written by the NYPD. Read it here.
The Conclusion: The police were cutting back on ticket writing. Now the facts seem to be that in 2003 they wrote 8.1MM tickets, in 2004, 10MM and in 2005 9.5MM.
Well could it possibly be that rather than simply setting a new number for 2005 and hitting it, that the increase in 2004 taught a few scofflaws a lesson and they decided not to break the law? Or could the prevalence of new Pay and Display machines and debit availability mean that folks would rather pay than risk a citation?
I don’t know, but the idea that fewer tickets mean that the police simply aren’t doing their job is a pretty big leap.
JVH
