We regret to inform you it is now a felony to shove a metermaid or interrupt the issuance of a parking ticket in the once-great state of New York. TheNewspaper.com reports that the New York state legislature has extended a special protection to metermaids that was once reserved for police, firefighters and paramedics. Under the new law, physical contact for which a meter maid can claim an injury is now a Class D felony, for which you could be sent to the big house for up to seven years. "No one likes to get a ticket," says Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, "but the contempt some persons have for the job of the TEA (Traffic Enforcement Agent. Aw) or New York City marshal does not warrant the violent confrontational approach they have taken." Pretlow was likely referring to a well-publicized incident this May in which a metermaid TEA was beaten by an off-duty police officer to the applause of onlookers. Which would lead you to believe that metermaids have it pretty rough out there, and indeed the NYPD says some sixty TEA assaults were reported last year. Of course, that is in a city which had a total 27,295 reported aggravated assaults in the same year. You'd actually expect that aggrieved dude-on-metermaid violence would make up a much higher percent of those statistics.
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Ahhh. we can’t call the Brownie’s in NY anymore, since they changed the uniform. I usually say thanks and tell them to have a nice day. It puts them off guard……
What’s not said in this story is probably the most important part of it: ” . . . was beaten by an off-duty police officer”. I’m betting the officer made an appeal for leniency using his silver credit card (badge) and the TEA refused to honor the unwritten code that law enforcement officials never ticket/fine each other. That is probably what pushed him over the edge.
They are easily offended.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9GgWrV8TcUc
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10001149-93.html?tag=nefd.top#comments
findude :
What’s not said in this story is probably the most important part of it: ” . . . was beaten by an off-duty police officer”.
I’m betting the officer made an appeal for leniency using his silver credit card (badge) and the TEA refused to honor the unwritten code that law enforcement officials never ticket/fine each other. That is probably what pushed him over the edge.
Yes, the cops call this “professional courtesy,” and I have been hearing increased complaints from old/retired cops that the younger set is NOT extending professional courtesy.
I even heard this complaint in a court case that I was on a jury for!
I believe it’s a function of the time we live in. The last thing a TEA wants is a public, internet, or press accusation that police officers get preferential treatment.
So they treat everybody the same: Bureaucratically.
But I have a problem with the (like) bureaucratic response of the legislature. Why pass yet ANOTHER law? Why not enforce the current laws? The cop who perpetrated the beating should have lost his badge and his pension. And HE should have gone to the “big house.”
There’s another alternative, too. Issue the metermaids firearms, and give them the necessary training. Give them the means and authority to protect themselves from the general public as well as their own (fellow law-enforcement personnel), and I’ll bet this law would not have been necessary.
Hell, we might also see fewer parking violations if you know that “Metermaid Molly” might be packing!
If anyone wants to see NYC meter maid vigilantism at its finest, go to YouTube and throw “Jimmy Justice” into the search.
Jimmy Justice rules. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf-tcjc87hw
You only need a video camera to harass them…
I should feel terrible that meter maids are being assaulted. Yes, I really think that would be the proper way to feel.
Why do you find amusement in this? Well, because none of you snarkers have ever been there.
As a volunteer EMS worker, I actually know what it’s like to be threatened, assaulted, punched. Come on some ambulance runs with me, you big swingin’ dicks, and you might change your smug tunes.
I haven’t had problems with meter maids, so I can’t comment…..anyone know if they are on commission?
In boston, oh boston, the union guy who walks around and empties meters gets a cop to walk with him. I imagine to keep him safe and also to keep him honest. Collection probably costs 3x the take all things considered including pensions, days off, OT etc.
When will fast lane tech be used for meters (and all around enforcement) like it is for gas pumps and tolls
And people wonder why the toll collectors for NYC bridges and tunnels are issued pistols.
Nopanegain,
Thanks for that. I go crazy over what the cops get away with in this city. that guy must have balls of steel though. Cops here are not above retributive ass-kicking. I had a cop pull me over for no seatbelt (even though I was actually wearing one), give me a ticket and then run a red light as he sped off.
Anyone who objects to this has clearly never seen the truTV reality show where they follow metermaids around. Sweet merciful heavens, you’d think they were executing peoples’ grandmothers, the way some of these wrong-parking idiots freak out. If I was passing legislation, I’d be issuing them grenade launchers.
If this hacks you guys off, though, you could always try NOT parking like a-holes.
I think this a just a knee jerk reaction!
I’m actually surprised this law wasn’t already on the books. They made it a felony to assault MTA workers a while back (bus drivers, subway conductors). And the parking police here ARE well deserving of a beat down for the most part. They are “just doing their job” the same way the nazis were (okay maybe that’s not fair).
But still, try getting a ticket when you are sitting in your car looking for change for the meter and see how you feel about them. They also have a habit of writing bs tickets to make their quota. Everybody I know with a car has gotten at least a couple bs tickets. I got one for parking in front of a driveway where there was no driveway (just a curb cut and everybody always parks there, I still do). Or too close to a hydrant when I was 15 feet away from the hydrant.
And yes, if you actually take the time to go to court the judges will let you off 9 times out of 10. But you still lose the time (and time is money) and have the inconvenience of going downtown to the courthouse.
Oh, and a parking ticket here is $100 and up. Bloomberg’s stance? “If you can’t afford some tickets, you can’t afford to drive in this city.” Thanks, Mr. Billionaire, that’s mighty white of you.
That picture makes me feel all strange and warm in my loins.
How much to hire her?
In college, we used to harass the student parking enforcement members as much as possible. You can understand the university police giving parking tickets, but fellow students.. bah. Plus, the student officers were much less lenient.
If you want to talk about preferential treatment (atheletes given free reign) and facility planning failure, just visit your local university. The amount of revenue generated at my university by this broken system is staggering.
Ridiculous. Assaulting a metermaid is a victimless crime, like selling meth. Just more nanny-statism….
For me it’s the uniform. Around here, the Metermaids, Dog Catchers, and even the Garbage Dump staff are all dressed like Police SWAT teams. It’s a pathetic attempt to intimidate the general public.
Yes, the cops call this “professional courtesy,” and I have been hearing increased complaints from old/retired cops that the younger set is NOT extending professional courtesy.
Uphold the law, above the law. Cops don’t have to obey the law anymore? Joe Schmoes get tickets when cops don’t? Don’t you think there’s something wrong with this idea?
What happened to “don’t do that and move on”? Why instead does he have the berate the kid like that?
I’ve done the military police gig, done the university parking patrol gig (in uniform, not just a student ticket writer). Seldom a reason to behave like that with people.
Only time I had to get ugly with anyone was when they were mean drunks. So many different ways of handling people than the ways these people in the videos did.
The Baltimore dude needs to get over himself. I got mad watching that video – as a parent. Okay the city doesn’t want skaters there but is that such a crime? Where is the fatherly guidance that this guy should have offered?
What kind of an adult does that cop think the kid will grow up to be? One that no longer see cops as one of the good guys that is for sure.
I fear the end of our society watching these videos.
Really.