By Steve Levy
Newsday published an outstanding article, which described how the New York Police Department‘s highest-ranking uniformed cop, John Chell, acknowledged that police departments give a free pass based upon who you know.
This was hardly a secret. In fact, it’s the reason that, as county executive, I issued an order banning members of the police department from issuing cards to residents who could show the card to the police officer who stopped them in an attempt to gain favoritism.
To my knowledge, that ban is no longer in effect. But it should be.
Of course, discretion is part of the job, but it always felt somewhat icky to see some in high places give their friends a pass that would make them immune from any tickets in the future.
But there’s a second part of that article buried within, which is even more concerning than the free pass issue
It’s the fact that this retired chief is now raking in $295,000 per year, almost entirely tax-free, since he went out on a disability in October due to an ankle injury after he stepped in a hole in Randall‘s Island
If you want to understand why taxes in New York are among the highest in the world, look no further than that abuse.