Presumably, what was happening was that NYC cops and city employees just didn’t get tickets, but then with the automated cameras, the computer didn’t know that it was supposed to give free passes to cops, and so they started bending their plates so they could keep their above-the-law status. Which is what prevents them from getting in trouble for having a defaced plate.
The guy who popularized this advocacy tactic is Adam White, a semi-celebrity bike lawyer who was formerly one half of Vaccaro & White, the law firm that sponsored a lot of NYC biking events. I remember the sweet justice when NYPD tried to arrest him a few years ago for vandalism and he essentially took them to the cleaners in court.
Speaking of, I still don’t know why Vaccaro & White split up, though as far as I understand it was not on good terms.
Apparently it’s true:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/nyregion/license-plate-vigilantes.html
Presumably, what was happening was that NYC cops and city employees just didn’t get tickets, but then with the automated cameras, the computer didn’t know that it was supposed to give free passes to cops, and so they started bending their plates so they could keep their above-the-law status. Which is what prevents them from getting in trouble for having a defaced plate.
Fuck the NYPD, in other words
The guy who popularized this advocacy tactic is Adam White, a semi-celebrity bike lawyer who was formerly one half of Vaccaro & White, the law firm that sponsored a lot of NYC biking events. I remember the sweet justice when NYPD tried to arrest him a few years ago for vandalism and he essentially took them to the cleaners in court.
Speaking of, I still don’t know why Vaccaro & White split up, though as far as I understand it was not on good terms.