New York, NY – Perfectly healthy scammers could fake their way to free parking on city streets by exploiting shoddy record keeping in a program for disabled drivers, a new audit claims.
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City Controller John Liu says the city Transportation Department couldn’t account for 22,000 holographic seals that make disabled parking permits official.
If scammers got hold of the seals, they could doctor the dashboard permits and park for free at meters, in no-parking zones and in other off-limits curbside spots.
“The application process for these permits is rigorous, and necessarily so,” Liu said. “Unfortunately, the agency’s own procedures fall far short of rigorous … and leaves the city vulnerable to the issuance of fraudulent permits.”
Auditors, initially working for former city Controller William Thompson, did not uncover any fraudsters in their review of the city’s permit program.
The permits they sampled appeared to have proper medical documentation and met other criteria, though auditors found examples of permits improperly issued to people with out-of-state licences, and examples of people improperly getting more than one permit.
More alarming were inventory records showing the Transportation Department should have had 49 rolls of holographic security seals – about 100,500 stickers. But auditors counted just 38 rolls with 78,500 seals.
The Transportation Department says it uses several layers of “tight physical security controls” and has no evidence of missing or misappropriated seals.
Liu’s auditors say the agency offered no proof, and knocked its “grossly deficient” controls.
If a person is caught with a handicapped sticker but has no obvious handicap, he/she should be ticketed, the car impounded and the sticker confiscated. Once these scam artists know there will be a big penalty for such fraud, they will be reluctant to take any chances. The inconvenience to a few legitimate handicapped users (i.e. a friend dropping them off for a medical appointment gets caught) are outweighed by the benefits of eliminating the fraud which is pervasive.
The con artists always know how to beat the system. Recently, I was waiting in the freezing cold for a bus outside of the Masbia Soup Kitchen on Coney Island Avenue. Out walks this man who looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. While I was waiting for the bus, this soup kitchen customer satisfyingly stepped into his recent model van and happily drove off.
you cant always SEE what the handicap is. someone with a handicap tag should have matching ID in their wallet as well.
This is a Chillul Hashem… You all know this to be true….half of Brooklyn have these Handicap privileges.. What are we in a crippled society? Unless the person ch”v physically can’t walk, they shouldn’t be issued these valuable credentials. I once asked a guy with handicap plates what his handicap was, because he looked “gezint like a bear” to me, and he told me that he has a urination problem – he goes from 0 to 60 in mamish a second… He sometimes needs to run emergency… I laughed when I heard it… What’s the worst case scenerio with his “handicap?” – Who cares if he needs to put his pants in the laundry once in a while… for THAT he should get the best parking spots and personally save thousands of dollars in parking tickets?? That’s why I strongly feel that this is a Chillul Hashem and should be stopped!!
Maybe if people in late model cars are seen walking in and out of Masbia (which is trying to present itself as a bekovedika restaurant -just free of charge for those in need), then my poverty stricken clients, that literally are out of food when the food stamps card is depleted, will feel less ashamed to bring their children to a “restaurant” for a warm meal. I know of situations where a mother had to chose between spending her last $20 or shoes for her toddler or (expensive) gluten free or other non-allergenic foods for her autistic child. I wish there was no stigma attached to entering Masbia.
I have a handicap hang tag. I suffer from deficits from a brain tumor and at times have an unsteady gait and at other times I may suffer from sudden weakness and unable to walk distances. And, at other times I appear to be completely capable. Sometimes people look at me when I appear fine, but if I have an attack I cannot walk more than a few feet without aid of a cane (which I really hate using, since it makes me look like an old man). So, no one should judge by appearances.