NYPD officer sues over ‘get out of jail cards,’ claiming corruption

NYPD officer sued over 'courtesy cards' issued by police associations - The Washington Post

The driver was going double the speed limit on a city boulevard notorious for car accidents when New York police officer Mathew Bianchi pulled him over one day last year.

Not this time. Bianchi decided to write a ticket.

“Even though he had a card, I don’t believe it should replace a license,” he said. “If you can’t drive, you shouldn’t be driving at all. A courtesy card shouldn’t outweigh things like that.”

In a federal lawsuit filed May 27 in Manhattan, Bianchi claims his stance against the cards — and his decision to ticket some who carried them — led to escalating retaliation that ended with a demotion. The complaint, which named the city and a police captain as defendants, describes an unofficial but strictly maintained system in which those who possess courtesy cards “can break the law with impunity.”

As a result, those without connections are disproportionately penalized while those with them get away with dangerous or even reckless driving, Bianchi said, blasting the unwritten policy as “corrupt.”

An NYPD spokesperson said the agency “will review the lawsuit if and when we are served.” A PBA spokesperson did not comment directly on the cards but said in a statement that the union “does not set policies regarding the way that police officers perform their duties.”

“The law and NYPD policies afford police officers discretion in taking enforcement action,” the statement added. “Each police officer determines how to exercise that discretion based on the specifics of each case.”

Viewed by many officers as a perk of the job, the courtesy cards have long been the subject of media scrutiny. News articles referenced their existence as early as 1936, Vice reported in 2020. Other articles have reported on a trend of the cards cropping up for sale online.

Before becoming a police officer, Bianchi said, “I knew they existed, but didn’t know to what kind of extent.” He joined the NYPD in 2015 and was assigned to the traffic unit two years later. In some ways, it was a natural fit.

“I lost somebody in a car accident at a young age,” Bianchi said. “Growing up, I would see people driving badly and think, I wish I could do something about that.”

According to his complaint, he received stellar evaluations early on. But then, in November 2018, he issued a ticket despite the courtesy card showed by the driver. Afterward, he said, a PBA official told him that if he ticketed cardholders, the union would not protect him. And he would be removed from the traffic unit.

Bianchi patrolled on Long Island, where he estimated as many as half the drivers he stopped carried the cards. Officers can buy 30 of them a year at $1 each, he said, meaning the NYPD’s 36,000-officer force could put more than 100,000 cards in circulation each year. He added that they are handed out not only to friends and family, but also in recognition of benefits such as meal discounts — something he sees as a violation of the impartiality expected of police.

“As a cop doing the enforcement, I’m expected to honor the card,” Bianchi said. “But as a cop giving them out to somebody, there’s no limitations to what I can do with them. So it’s a problem.”

He frequently raised his concerns, filing complaints with the New York City Department of Investigation and NYPD internal affairs. He also talked to supervisors including his commanding officer, who he alleged responded by asking, “Is it better to be right or better to be on patrol?”

Undeterred, Bianchi said he kept writing cardholders tickets when he felt it was warranted — and kept getting reprimanded for it. In some cases, his supervisors reviewed body-camera footage from stops after his colleagues complained he was giving tickets to their courtesy card-carrying family and friends, the suit alleges.

Finally, in September, Bianchi was transferred out of the traffic unit and onto regular patrol, with nighttime hours. According to the lawsuit, the change in assignment came days after he issued a ticket to a friend of Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer. A superior told Bianchi he had angered “someone very high up,” the suit said.

He filed more complaints over what he considered retaliation, including with the agency’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity. But months later, he has not gotten his old assignment back. He said other officers view him as trying to take away a perk; half of his colleagues don’t want to talk to him when he goes into work.

The lawsuit, which alleges that the police department violated his free speech rights to speak out about an issue of public concern, was a final resort.

“I basically had to ruin my career to bring light to a subject that I feel is out of hand,” Bianchi said. He added, “It’s worth it to me because I think it’s the right thing to do. But I can’t say that the department will do the right thing by me.”