A grand jury in the Bronx is expected any day now to indict dozens of police officers in the ongoing ticket-fix mess. At the same time, the Post reports, crooked cops are being offered a deal. If officers can't present the appropriate paperwork to explain a fixed ticket they can either lose ten vacation days or see their case sent to Internal Affairs and try their luck in court.
"They are making this a blanket 10-day hit," a source told the tabloid. The move comes as at least 40 cops face scrutiny for routinely fixing traffic tickets for friends and family as a courtesy.
One "high-ranking officer" explains the proposed punishment in terms of standard practices at the NYPD: "If I were writing you a ticket and got called to a robbery in progress, and I forgot to go back at the end of my shift and put it in my memo book, I could be suspended for 10 days."
The ticket fixing probe has already been a serious embarrassment to the NYPD, having been blamed for helping at least two people beat raps in court.
