I’m thinking it’s pretty obviously corrupt to let some people be above the law because they happen to be related to or friends with someone employed by the taxpayer funded government run police department which is trusted with law enforcement.
AP – NYPD officer lands $175K settlement over ‘courtesy cards’ that help drivers get out of traffic stops By PHILIP MARCELO Updated 7:38 PM EDT, September 10, 2024
In his lawsuit filed last year, Bianchi claimed current and retired officers have access to hundreds of cards, giving them away in exchange for a discount on a meal or a home improvement job.
He also claimed he had been reprimanded on numerous occasions for writing tickets to the friends and families of officers, even after they had produced a courtesy card.
The final straw came when he issued a ticket to a driver who turned out to be a friend of the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, in the summer of 2022. Bianchi said he was promptly ousted from his job in the department’s traffic unit and relegated to night patrol duties.
The police department declined to comment, deferring questions to the law department.
The Police Benevolent Association, NYPD’s largest police union, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. The city’s police unions have long faced scrutiny over the cards because of the appearance of corruption and their appearance for sale on eBay.
“because of the appearance of corruption”
Seriously?
About a few decades ago I was in a traffic accident that involved 4 cars and 4 witnesses, and the person who caused the accident told the police officer that they knew the sheriff, and the police report said it was caused by a “phantom” car.
Obviously this kind of impropriety happens a lot. Some towns are worse than others. After a fashion, you learn what towns to avoid. Everyone’s heard about people getting speeding tickets “quashed” somehow because somebody “knows somebody”.
But it really looks like these improper operations have just become more clownishly bureaucratic with fancy club motifs. Now they use special laminated courtesy cards like currency? I’ve heard of coins being used in some towns, and sometimes just a code password like little boys policing their treehouse.
The people involved always seem to think it’s a great system and are often confused about why anybody else finds it offensive. I was once at an event where candidates running for county level offices were answering questions and just didn’t see the corruption in hiring a relative of one of the officials, as long as the related commissioner recused themselves from the process. What? It’s like they think we’re naive and don’t know that of course the others who are not directly related are still going to feel compelled to do their coworker – a favour – because they have to work with this person. Still nepotism.
It’s not just the appearance of impropriety – it’s improper.
Also, people don’t seem to realize that nepotism can work in two directions. It’s not just about someone’s family member getting a benefit they may or may not deserve, or a job they may or may not be qualified for. Once you have that situation, it’s easy to use someone’s relative as leverage. Once you use the courtesy card, you may owe a favour. In almost every egregious scandal in a workplace, where people ask after the fact, “How could everyone have gone along with this so long?” – well, there’s likely nepotism involved. Whistleblowers who report wrongdoing of their employer are rarely people with 3 family members working for the same workplace. A person might be willing to risk losing their own job by standing up for what’s right – but few will be willing to risk their own job and their spouse’s job, or risk making life miserable at work for their sister, or even brother-in-law. And that’s absolutely what happens in situations – typically people who want very much to keep their jobs, close ranks, even if it’s not organized deliberately, people just start protecting their own. It’s just how things shake out. You will see these patterns. We know about them and there are ways to mitigate them. Prohibiting nepotism, and gifts, is the so obvious way to prevent a lot of this stuff.