More selective parking enforcement
24
October
10/24/2009:
We’ve all heard stories about how police may target some vehicles illegitimately, and yet completely ignore actual parking offenders. A Hoboken411 reader details one particular instance of alleged harassment that occurred just today. Has this ever happened to you?
Personally targeted by HPD
“I was just ticketed for having my vehicle parked in my driveway. Officer Angel Velez claims I was obstructed the sidewalk. My car was not obstructing the sidewalk and more importantly there were five or six cars on that block parked in a yellow line, some of them right on the corner. I have attached the photos that I showed to the responding officer when I called to file my harassment complaint against officer Velez. I filed the harassment charge, as well as the selective enforcement, because this is not the first time I have been harassed in this manner.
I can’t be the only person victimized by this harassment and selective enforcement. So, I hope you can post the story and pics and let others know they can fight back against this.”
October 25th 2009 - 16:51:32 |
this is a fair site
ratemycop.com/index.php?option=com_...oard&Itemid=162&func=latest
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October 25th 2009 - 17:11:17 |
Translation – some of those cars belong to folks who will never ever get a ticket in a million years.
Though I have to say, if the writer felt he didn’t deserve a ticket, he really should have taken pictures of his car as well. Only with that does he have a chance of getting off. The judge is going to want some visual evidence, otherwise he/she will just side w/ the cop.
In response to elainetyger who said:
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October 25th 2009 - 18:26:56 |
I prefer to think of myself as “fair” versus “douchey”. So I’ll go with the former, thanks.
In response to daveyankee who said:
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October 25th 2009 - 18:28:41 |
Oh, no! An officer’s girl is in the threads!
Uh, yeah. Why don’t we just admit that too many officers take WAY too much advantage of their privileges?
In response to MartysGirl who said:
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October 25th 2009 - 20:30:03 |
ElaineT – how is it OK for parking rules to be violated by firemen but not by others? If it’s a no parking zone then it is no parking for anyone. If it should be parking restricted to a certain group of people (ie – firefighters) then the area could have been posted that way.
a big part of the problem in this town is certain groups of people feeling like they have special entitlements and this feeling/behavior has got to be eliminated.
In response to elainetyger who said:
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October 25th 2009 - 22:49:31 |
My neighbor got a ticket for parking in their driveway a few months ago for the same “blocking the sidewalk” reason. Yet cars double park on our street for up to 4 hours at a time and never get a ticket. Once when I was blocked in my space by multiple double parkers, I called the police. After waiting 20 minutes without them showing up (I called twice), I finally had to hop the curb and drive down the sidewalk to get out.
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October 26th 2009 - 00:26:37 |
The reason that the spots across from a firehouse are no parking is so the engines can get in and out without destroying your car. If the cars belong to people who are visiting the firehouse, they will hear the alarms and get the cars out of the way.
There are spots set aside for firefighters, but those spots get street sweeping. Unless FD gets better treatment than the ambulance corps, they may get ticketed if their cars are in the street sweeping spot during that hour. Do we know that this was not the case during the time these pictures taken? I know it’s only one hour out of the whole week, but the person taking the pictures may not have had all the information and may have been too angry and frustrated to gather it.
I don’t think you should get ticketed for parking in a driveway unless the property owner called PD any more than someone should get ticketed for parking in the spot across from the firehouse unless FD called, but I just believe we are missing some of the facts here.
In response to Alehead who said:
a big part of the problem in this town is certain groups of people feeling like they have special entitlements and this feeling/behavior has got to be eliminated.
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October 26th 2009 - 07:25:08 |
The issue wasn’t parking in a driveway… It was blocking the sidewalk.
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October 26th 2009 - 07:45:34 |
Elaine – I disagree. How would a police officer, Hoboken Parking employee ‘know’ that these cars across from the Firehouse belonged to people in the Firehouse? Also, what if a resident living across the street wanted this same favorable treatment of leaving their cars in the no parking area across from the Firehouse – surely they could get their cars just as fast as the people in the Firehouse? And finally, any delay in getting those cars moved out of the way of the firetrucks potentially puts people at risk if the trucks are delayed in the slightest.
We all know that there is selective enforcement of many rules/laws around here – and it is both wrong and potentially dangerous (firetrucks delayed getting out of station, people parking on corners blocking lines of sight, running stop signs, etc).
In response to elainetyger who said:
There are spots set aside for firefighters, but those spots get street sweeping. Unless FD gets better treatment than the ambulance corps, they may get ticketed if their cars are in the street sweeping spot during that hour. Do we know that this was not the case during the time these pictures taken? I know it’s only one hour out of the whole week, but the person taking the pictures may not have had all the information and may have been too angry and frustrated to gather it.
I don’t think you should get ticketed for parking in a driveway unless the property owner called PD any more than someone should get ticketed for parking in the spot across from the firehouse unless FD called, but I just believe we are missing some of the facts here.
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October 26th 2009 - 07:48:56 |
If a car is parked on the sidewalk regardless if it’s in a driveway then its obstruction and it should be ticketed. Where’s the picture of how the car was parked in the driveway?
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October 26th 2009 - 09:27:21 |
You think? Never will happen, not in a million years. They don’t see it that way. The only way to take away those entitlements is to elect people who want to take them away.
In response to Alehead who said:
a big part of the problem in this town is certain groups of people feeling like they have special entitlements and this feeling/behavior has got to be eliminated.
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October 26th 2009 - 09:39:16 |
Actually, if they have everything they say they have, this will be dismissed.
But this gets WAY more interesting. I heard last night that a federal lawsuit civil rights suit is being filed against Officer Velez by the people he harrassed. I love it. Good luck, Angel. Hope you win lots of money playing poker this week to pay for your attorney.
For those that don’t know this loser, it really couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
In response to matt_72 who said:
Though I have to say, if the writer felt he didn’t deserve a ticket, he really should have taken pictures of his car as well. Only with that does he have a chance of getting off. The judge is going to want some visual evidence, otherwise he/she will just side w/ the cop.
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October 26th 2009 - 09:48:27 |
A couple of quick busy-body unsolicited observations.
1. Illegal parking is not a right.
2. Ticketing one illegally parked car out of a group is probably not a prosecutable offense.
3. No image of the car in question = no way to figure out what is going on here, hard to side with you. Dynamic becomes vendetta cop or blocked sidewalk. Can’t tell from here.
4. You said “my driveway”, named the officer you are sparring with, and there is a picture to show where this happened. Are you an idealist or a masochist?
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October 26th 2009 - 10:02:04 |
I’m not sure you understand the point …if the area of the street is designated “No Parking”, then no one should be allowed to park there.
In response to elainetyger who said:
There are spots set aside for firefighters, but those spots get street sweeping. Unless FD gets better treatment than the ambulance corps, they may get ticketed if their cars are in the street sweeping spot during that hour. Do we know that this was not the case during the time these pictures taken? I know it’s only one hour out of the whole week, but the person taking the pictures may not have had all the information and may have been too angry and frustrated to gather it.
I don’t think you should get ticketed for parking in a driveway unless the property owner called PD any more than someone should get ticketed for parking in the spot across from the firehouse unless FD called, but I just believe we are missing some of the facts here.
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October 26th 2009 - 10:04:37 |
I used to live around the corner from that firehouse (2nd/Jeff). I seem to recall a small parking lot behind the building (on 2nd). It looked to me like firehouse parking.
Is that lot still there? Is it indeed firehouse parking?
Unrelated: do they still send their EMS truck (with the 120 db siren) out almost every night at 12:30am?
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October 26th 2009 - 10:06:25 |
Unfortunately, most of the rumors about the “sense of entitlement” in this town are true.
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October 26th 2009 - 10:08:09 |
Please don’t confuse us with the facts.
In response to HansBrix who said:
Is that lot still there? Is it indeed firehouse parking?
Unrelated: do they still send their EMS truck (with the 120 db siren) out almost every night at 12:30am?
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October 26th 2009 - 10:10:02 |
Don’t you have to pay court fees even if the ticket is thrown out? sucks
The cops in this town suck. Even if there are just a few crooked cops they ruin the whole name for the HPD. It comes from the top and that is who needs the finger needs to be pointed at. From the terrible heads in city hall over to the police chief, they all don’t do their job and are crooked. Drive your electric car through that Zimmer.
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October 26th 2009 - 13:09:58 |
I had a ticket dismissed and never paid any court fees. In fact, John Corea was subpoenaed to testify on my behalf based on a letter I wrote to the Judge. Other than having to waste 3 hours sitting through other people’s cases before mine, it was a painless process and didn’t even require me speaking.
In response to drdrool who said:
The cops in this town suck. Even if there are just a few crooked cops they ruin the whole name for the HPD. It comes from the top and that is who needs the finger needs to be pointed at. From the terrible heads in city hall over to the police chief, they all don’t do their job and are crooked. Drive your electric car through that Zimmer.
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October 26th 2009 - 21:38:28 |
Sounds like you contradicted yourself.
In response to drdrool who said:
The cops in this town suck. Even if there are just a few crooked cops they ruin the whole name for the HPD. It comes from the top and that is who needs the finger needs to be pointed at. From the terrible heads in city hall over to the police chief, they all don’t do their job and are crooked. Drive your electric car through that Zimmer.
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