Public Employee Press

Special unit will fight assaults on TEAs

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes joined union leaders recently to announce the formation of a special unit to enforce the 2008 law that makes attacks on Traffic Enforcement Agents and Sanitation Agents Class D felonies.

Hynes said the new team would ensure that news of an assault reaches his office immediately and investigate and prosecute the crime.

TEA 1s and 2s, who write tickets and direct traffic, are members of Communications Workers Local 1182, as are Sanitation Agents. TEA 3s operate tow trucks and TEA 4s enforce laws on truck weight and construction encroachment on city streets; they are members of DC 37’s Local 983.

Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal, Local 1182 President James Huntley and other local leaders joined Hynes and Kelly at the news conference held March 25 outside Brooklyn Borough Hall. The unions lobbied from 1986 to 2008 to get the tough new legislation passed.

“The TEAs do life-saving work every day, letting fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars get to the scene,” said Kelly. “They make traffic and commerce move, and they deserve every bit of protection from the law.”

The unit will pursue and prosecute those who take out their frustrations on civil servants who are doing their jobs. Individual agents have been shot, punched, beaten, and dragged behind cars, and the problem has been increasing, with 59 assaults in 2008.

“One of our members miscarried after a beating,” said Rosenthal. “It’s time for this to stop. We are doing our jobs and enforcing the law, and we deserve the full protection of the law when we find ourselves in danger.”

The new unit is similar to the DA’s Assault on Police Officers program, but will focus solely on TEAs and sanitation officers.

Hynes said he hopes the intense enforcement plan will be expanded to every borough and statewide.

An ad campaign — including truck-mounted mobile billboards — will educate the public about the new law. Subway cars are already carrying public service announcements and local newspapers are delivering the message: There are now severe penalties for assaulting a Traffic Enforcement Agent.