It’s not easy being a parking control specialist (PCS). This small group of about 65 officers, who are Local 237 members, enforce parking regulations, with a special focus on meter violations and vandalism. They are required to study traffic law and parking rules to get the job, but as for tactics to serve summonses to hostile motorists, they learn those as they go.

PCS David Kellerman shared his strategy with us. “Let him scream, and just listen,” he said. “Speak in a calm voice and he calms down.” Kellerman should know. He’s been an officer in the Department of Transportation’s Parking Control Unit since it opened in 1989. “You become accustomed to dealing with the public every single day so that you become desensitized.”

Each day, PCSs are deployed throughout the city where they patrol by car, bicycle or on foot, during three shifts ranging from 7 a.m. until after midnight. The Parking Control Unit is not yet a 24/7 operation, since the city lacks funds to expand it. At the end of June, 20 new officers were hired, but there are still vacancies and no schedule to fill them.

The group is divided into about eight squads. “We are seven or eight people on our squad,” says PCS Eunice Currie, “and each writes about 100 summonses a day for an average fine of $115 per ticket.” That translates to a whopping intake of $11,500 per day per officer. In addition to writing out summonses, officers tally them by squad, region and numerical order before turning them over to the Department of Finance, where the buck stops. The unit is “a money generating operation,” says PCS Andrew Thomas, but “the potential for officer injury is growing.” Fines were recently increased considerably, which makes for a hostile situation, and the summons format was changed, so it takes longer for officers to write them out. “We were trained to write license plates first, and now they want registration first,” explains Currie. “Sometimes motorists speed away before we can record the plates.”

Another challenge is competition from other city agencies. New York Police Department officers, cops on scooters and sanitation enforcement agents are flooding the PCS beat with tickets of their own. “That makes a stressful job even more stressful,” says Thomas.

Talk about stress, Capt. John Ciampa recalls when a motorist “held a screwdriver to my throat, took my radio and threw it.” His partner at the time, Theresa Lyde, now a PCU administrator, radioed for help, says Ciampa.

“I’d like to see more training for officers in defensive and offensive tactics,” says Local 237 Business Agent Noreen Hollingsworth, explaining that although PCSs have peace officer status, they are not authorized by the DOT to make arrests related to assaults.


Aiding the Community
Community service is another PCU responsibility. Located on Queens Boulevard, aka “The Boulevard of Death,” the unit was assigned to assist at pedestrian crossings. “During the blackout last summer we also assisted traffic control,” says Capt. Corey Gibbons, who coordinates special assignments.

The history of PCU’s finest moments is on display in an office known as “the museum,” where Asst. Chief Richard McMichaels hangs his hat and a wide assortment of photographs, news clippings and memorabilia. Since joining the PCU when it opened in 1989, McMichaels has risen through the ranks and participated in the agency’s growth.

“The unit has flourished because everyone contributes,” says McMichaels, emphasizing that “opportunity is here if you’re respectful, considerate and a professional with integrity.”



A history of the unit’s finest moments is on display in what the parking control specialists call “the Museum,” which is actually the office of Asst. Chief Richard McMichael.



Each Parking Control Specialist writes about 100 summonses a day at an average $115 per ticket.



Left: Shop Steward Gwen Badley hopes for electronic tickets. Right: Capt. Corey Gibbons handles all operations needs.