Rules are made to be broken — especially if you’re a cop in Williamsburg.
A 94th Precinct officer has been openly flouting alternate-side parking rules by parking his Mustang on Roebling Street and prominently displaying his police-issued parking permit on his dashboard to avoid getting a ticket.
Residents have seen black Ford camping out in the same spot near N. Seventh Street for nearly two months while other drivers diligently moved their cars every Monday and Thursday morning when the parking rules are enforced.
The officer, who works at the 90th Precinct, could not be reached, but a police source said that the cop sometimes displays his permit on its windshield after his late-night shift if he can’t find any parking in the neighborhood.
The source added that the officer parked his car on the street legally this morning.
But one resident claimed that the car has “never moved” from street, even after the heavy snowstorms.
“Just this morning, the officer’s Mustang is the only car on that side of the street,” said one resident who declined to give his name. “Those spaces on Roebling are coveted spots. It makes no sense at all, and is wrong.”
It is unclear how widespread the practice but the NYPD discourages officers abusing parking privileges.
“Police officers have to apply for a parking permit and you have to know rights and wrongs,” said 94th Precinct community affairs officer Scott Adamo, patrols the neighborhood where the Mustang is parked. “If you misuse it, you can get in trouble, like anything else.”
And the risks can be expensive.
Summonses issued for not following alternate side parking rules cost $45 — but if an officer who disobeys the rules could lose vacation days or have his pay docked several hundred dollars.
That doesn’t seem worth it, Adamo said.
“We have to move our car, everyone else has to move their car, and he has to move it too,” said Adamo.
