Why don’t cops get tickets?

Re “Some are more equal,” editorial, April 14

In your editorial, you decry public officials who have confidential vehicle registrations and believe they are immune from toll charges and parking tickets. But a confidential registration is not necessary for our public servants to insist that they are bound by different rules than taxpayers. On any weekday, dozens of Los Angeles police cars park illegally near the downtown courthouses. They park in no-stopping zones, and they block lanes intended for freeway access and buses. There is no shortage of legal parking -- the drivers are simply too lazy to park a few blocks away. The Los Angeles Police Department knows who is driving, and illegally parking, these police cars.

This problem has existed for years, as documented by The Times, but officers believe they are able to get away with these violations because the Los Angeles Bureau of Parking Enforcement doesn’t issue them citations. It is easy to think the rules do not apply to you when those in charge of enforcing the rules ignore them. But, as Police Chief William J. Bratton’s “broken windows” theory shows, it is from such small malfeasance that greater problems grow.

John Hamilton Scott

Sherman Oaks