{"id":63602,"date":"2025-07-14T01:03:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T01:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63602\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T01:03:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T01:03:19","slug":"nyc-traffic-enforcement-agents-want-to-get-peace-officer-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63602\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Traffic Enforcement Agents want to get peace officer status"},"content":{"rendered":"

They wear the same patch, but when they\u2019re assaulted on the street, the differences between NYPD cops and Traffic Enforcement Agents<\/a> become abundantly clear, the union representing TEA agents says, as it hopes to get peace officer status to better protect its members.<\/p>\n

As civilian employees, not peace officers, TEA agents don\u2019t have the same health benefits as cops when they\u2019re injured on the job. Criminal charges against those who attack them would also be more severe, Local 1182<\/a> President Alexander Sadik said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not a day that passes where our members aren\u2019t harassed, mistreated or hospitalized because they were assaulted,\u201d Sadik told the Daily News. \u201cIf my members were peace officers, if you touch them, that\u2019s assault. Now, if you touch them, that\u2019s harassment. That\u2019s a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are owned by the same department, so why is traffic enforcement being denied?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s 2,500 traffic enforcement agents, who are mostly immigrants and people of color, direct traffic and enforce parking rules in the city. Their salaries start at $41,493 and top out at $47,874.<\/p>\n

They wear light blue uniforms \u2014 slightly different than NYPD officers \u2014 and the same NYPD patch with a rocker on the top indicating they are traffic enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the public needs help, they don\u2019t see the difference on the patch,\u201d Sadik said, pointing out that in May, when an Italian crypto currency trader being held against his will and tortured inside a SoHo apartment<\/a> escaped his captors, he ran up to a traffic enforcement agent believing he was a cop. That agent quickly called police to the scene.<\/p>\n

Yet the NYPD hasn\u2019t given its traffic agents the equipment to protect themselves, Sadik claims.\u00a0 Meanwhile, his members are being accosted in the street.<\/p>\n

Last Wednesday, a man doused a traffic agent with a bottle of juice in Brooklyn after the agent gave him a parking ticket near the corner of Seventh Ave. and Sixth St. in Park Slope. The man jumped into his vehicle and sped off and was still being sought by authorities Sunday.<\/p>\n

In December, cops arrested Mark Garrido, who was accused of attacking and robbing a traffic agent of his electronic summons book<\/a> after getting a ticket on a busy Queens street. Cops charged Garrido, 28, with robbery and assault.<\/p>\n

In July 2022, a motorist ran down a traffic enforcement agent<\/a> in Brooklyn with his Infiniti luxury car after the agent gave the driver\u2019s friend a ticket, police said. That November, also in Brooklyn, a man outraged about getting a ticket shoved a traffic agent to the ground and pummeled him<\/a>, according to police.<\/p>\n

Sadik said clashes like these happen every day, and that many of these incidents go unreported.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD officer directing traffic in New York City. (Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

One of the most egregious insults against city traffic enforcement agents\u00a0was committed by FBI agent Kenneth Diu,\u00a0<\/a>who was accused of attacking an agent giving his Jeep a ticket while it was parked by a hydrant in Queens on April 18, 2022.<\/p>\n

During the attack, Diu managed to void the ticket and then handcuffed the agent just as the agent\u2019s supervisor arrived at the scene. The FBI agent was charged with misdemeanor assault<\/a>, tampering with public records, computer tampering and obstructing governmental administration, cops said.<\/p>\n

Diu ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a conditional discharge,<\/a>\u00a0which means his punishment did not involve jail or probation.<\/p>\n

If traffic agents were given peace officer status, they would get unlimited sick leave if they were injured and needed hospitalization or physical therapy. Without it, traffic agents seriously injured on the job have to be back at work within 30 days or risk losing their jobs, Sadik said.<\/p>\n

For the last two years, the union has asked the NYPD to give its members body-worn cameras<\/a>, which would both record and deter the abuse agents receive daily from motorists. So far, they haven\u2019t gotten them. Currently the only traffic agents with body-worn cameras are part of special NYPD quality of life enforcement teams, Sadik said.<\/p>\n

The union is trying to determine how much it would cost to equip all its members with body-worn cameras themselves,<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they give us cameras, they would see the reality,\u201d said Sadik, who is also an auxiliary NYPD police officer<\/a>, a volunteer who helps at parades and public events.<\/p>\n

Auxiliary officers, he said, are given radios, batons and are offered self-defense classes \u2014 much more than his union members do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want a gun or a Taser. I just wanted to be treated like an auxiliary officer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Getting peace officer status is an uphill climb. Besides getting approval from the city, traffic agents would need approval from the state and get new training outlined by the state\u2019s Division of Criminal Justice Services, officials said.<\/p>\n

Despite Sadik\u2019s claims, the NYPD said assaults against traffic enforcement agents are down this year.<\/p>\n

As of June 22, 10 agents reported being assaulted, four fewer than in the same time period last year, officials said.<\/p>\n

In 2008, a state law was put in place so anyone arrested for attacking a city traffic agent would face felony charges<\/a> and heavier penalties, the department said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NYPD values the safety of traffic enforcement agents,\u201d an NYPD spokesman said. \u201cAssaulting a traffic enforcement [agent] carries the same consequence as assaulting a police officer or peace officer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They wear the same patch, but when they\u2019re assaulted on the street, the differences between NYPD cops and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-63602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-nyc-crime","23":"tag-sub-county-region","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114848897998084798","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}