Ghost car drivers are in for a scare. Mayor Eric Adams and other top city officials held a press conference at the Springfield Gardens Auto Pound on Wednesday, Sept. 18th, to announce the launch of a joint NYPD and New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) task force to remove ghost cars from city streets.
The 90-day task force began operations on Sept.10 and removed 295 ghost cars from the street within the first five nights of operations. The task force will primarily focus on removing parked ghost cars from streets, potentially freeing up valuable parking spaces for registered vehicles. As of last week, 15 NYPD officers were assigned strictly to parked ghost car removal under the direction of the DSNY.
According to Deputy Mayor Philip Banks, ghost cars are illegal cars with license plates that are either fake, missing, altered, obstructed, or fraudulent. Banks said that many ghost cars are tied to criminal activity, including robberies and shootings.
Banks was swift in denouncing ghost cars during the event. “Let’s be perfectly clear. There is no legitimate reason for anyone to drive a ghost car. That’s why we’re going to take every one of these untraceable cars off the streets, and when we take them off the streets, every time we take one off, we become a little bit safer,” he said.
Banks added that after 90 days, the agencies will evaluate the next steps of the program. “If the bad guys and the bad girls out there think they can lay low for 90 days, we have another surprise for you…put your car out there on the 91 days, and you will see what happens.” Banks said.
Mayor Adams echoed Bank’s views, calling the cars a “pain in the ass.” “We’re going after the unregistered, uninsured, and many times stolen vehicles that have been ignored for so many years,” Adams said. The Mayor emphasized the importance of going after ghost vehicles to protect pedestrians and vehicle owners from a potential “nightmare” scenario of being struck by a ghost car or involved in a vehicular accident. “Nothing is more horrific than a person that has been struck by a vehicle or their car may have been in the impact of a crash, just to learn the person did not have registration or insurance,” Adams said. “Now you’re footing the bill.”
The new task force focuses on parked ghost vehicles, building on the city’s ongoing multiagency city-state ghost car task force, which was formed in March. The previously formed task force focuses on ghost cars in motion and at toll booths. On Saturday, that task force completed its 41st operation; in those operations, the task force made 490 arrests, issued 20,640 summonses, and seized 2,303 vehicles whose owners owed a total of over $21 million in unpaid tolls, taxes, fees, and more.
“Today, we are sending an important message to everyone who drives on our city streets: fake plates are a real crime, and if you leave a car on city streets with forged, stolen, or altered plates, it won’t be there when you get back,” Adams said. “Our streets must be safer, and that’s why our teams will continue to work 24/7 to ensure New Yorkers’ safety.”
The vehicles seized by the newly formed task force will be held at NYPD lots, where they will be processed and either claimed, auctioned, or destroyed after all investigations are complete.
Ghost cars seized under the new NYPD and DSNY joint task force could end up in NYPD lots, including the Springfield Gardens Auto Pound pictured here. Photo by Athena DawsonDSNY Commissioner Jessica Tish explained how ghost cars find their final resting place in NYPD lots.
After ghost cars are towed, they are initially sent to a vendor lot, where ghost car owners are given 7 days to show up with valid registration and proof of insurance. “ If you managed to scrounge up all of the necessary paperwork- the paperwork you should have had- you’ll only be on the hook for a few $100 worth of storage and towing fees,” Tish said.
Following the 7-day period, unclaimed cars will be moved to an NYPD lot, and the title holder will be notified that they have 30 days to claim the vehicle. If left unclaimed, the car will be auctioned off. Tish said title owners are welcome to buy the car back, but if left unpurchased, the DSNY will “happily destroy” the vehicle.
Some local elected officials have taken the fight against ghost vehicles to Albany.
Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar announced that she is introducing a ‘Ghost Busters’ Bill in Albany this upcoming session. The bill will allow law enforcement to use VIN numbers to issue summonses for phony license plates. The legislation will also allow a boot to be placed on ghost vehicles, effectively immobilizing them.
Earlier this year, Rajkumar passed legislation to ban the sale of license plate covers and increase the fine for obscuring a plate. The law took effect this month, and as of Sept. 1st, it is now illegal to sell products designed to conceal or obscure license plates.
