N.Y. City Taxi Inspectors Say They’ve Been Pressured to Seize Cars for the Money

On the heels of reporting the
trend of New York City Taxi and Limousine Officials
improperly seizing cars under extremely dubious claims that
they are illegal cabs (when they were actually transporting friends
or family members of the driver), DNAInfo New York spoke
with several inspectors who
lay the blame on quotas:

[Alan] Kaeckmeister, and three other TLC enforcement sources who
spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that while inspectors are
tasked with policing yellow cabs and livery cabs, seizing cars
suspected of being illegal taxis has become the main focus.

They said the reason is money.

While illegal cab seizures may be a gold mine for a city — those
found guilty must pay a fine of at least $600 — the push is also
leading to innocent drivers losing their cars, Kaeckmeister and the
other sources said.

“They’re stopping cars without legal justification all the
time,” said Kaeckmeister, who in the past year has gone to two
tribunal hearings to testify before a judge that his superiors
forced him to seize a car when he didn’t have the evidence to do
so.

DNAInfo described one case where a driver actually
thought a taxi commission chief was trying to carjack him. They
tussled, and the driver was arrested, but subsequently cleared of
allegations by a tribunal.

A commission spokesperson has responded to DNAInfo‘s
reporting by saying all the terrible incidents that have happened
took place under the previous leadership. With the Bill de Blasio
administration comes a new commissioner, Meera Joshi. She has
mandated “refresher training” of the protocol for seizing vehicles
and has ordered additional dashboard cameras.

But the whole problem with calling more training is the silly
assumption that these officials don’t know exactly what they’re
doing. DNAInfo was told by anonymous sources that
underperforming officers are threatened with bad shifts and other
forms of retribution. Kaeckmeister said an assistant commissioner
once told inspectors that he would not lobby for them to receive
pay raises because they weren’t snagging enough cars.
DNAInfo concludes its latest report:

As for Kaeckmeister, he has given up on a career in law
enforcement and is now pursuing a master’s degree in divinity and
hopes to become a chaplain.

In a 12-page statement he submitted to the DOI last year, he
summed up his frustration with the TLC.

“I wanted an entry-level law enforcement position and to help
people,” he wrote. “However, within a few weeks of starting
actually working with the TLC, I can see that the TLC doesn’t offer
any real value to the public and the enforcement section of it is
more or less just a corrupt money-making scam for the city.”

In other transportation news from the Big Apple,
Lyft will start offering its ride-sharing services there today,
after agreeing to submit to the taxi commission’s various
regulations.