NYPD officer James Giovansanti has 547+ camera-issued speeding and red-light tickets since 2022 on Staten Island; department refuses to discipline him.
Key Takeaways
547 tickets across two license plates since Jan 2022, totaling $36,650 in fines; 187 tickets in 2025 alone averages one every other day.
NY State camera tickets are civil violations only – no license points, no suspension regardless of volume; three cop-issued tickets would suspend a license.
DOT data: drivers with 2+ annual moving violations are 40x more likely to cause a fatal or serious-injury crash; Giovansanti is literally off their chart.
His 4,800 lb RAM 1500 repeatedly ticketed at 41+ mph on blocks adjacent to P.S. 22 (700 students) and Port Richmond High School (1,500 teens).
NYPD’s stated position: off-duty camera tickets are “not related to his job or duties” – no discipline pending; Streetsblog found no exonerating explanation after repeated outreach.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters focused on the structural loophole: camera tickets carry no points in NY, so volume alone triggers nothing – a design gap that income-scaled fines or the pending Stop Super Speeders Act (mandatory speed limiters) would close.
UK point system came up as contrast: 12 points in 3 years equals a driving ban, making 547 offenses under the same rules a theoretical lifetime ban many times over.
Debate on whether Streetsblog’s door-knocking and personal identification crossed a journalistic line, with some seeing it as necessary accountability reporting and others comparing the tactics to harassment-oriented doxxing communities.
Notable Comments
@iso1631: UK’s 12-point-in-3-years ban rule makes the NY camera-ticket loophole stark by direct comparison.
@Teever: Proposes income-scaled fines with escalating multipliers for repeat offenses; suggests vehicle value as a proxy when income is hidden.
