Spotted In Ditmas Park: Scofflaw Patrol

If you’ve racked up more than $350 in unpaid tickets, you may have woken up to find a boot on your car this morning. We spotted the Scofflaw Patrol — a program implemented by the city last year— out in force earlier today, from end to end of the neighborhood, and we spotted several boots on cars along the way.

These “SmartBoots” have a key code, so you have to call a number, pay your fines (plus some additional fees), and then you get the code and can remove the boot–and then you have to return the boot to a city payment center, or face fines until you do. If you don’t do so within two days, then the car gets towed, and the cost (and time) to get it back goes up.

It’s apparently been a pretty successful program so far. Since starting it up in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island last summer, the city decided to add Manhattan and The Bronx just yesterday — where, by 5pm, they’d booted 32% more cars than they’d normally have towed, on average, on a Monday.