Idling for longer than three minutes has been illegal in New York City since the 1980s, although enforcement has been rare. That all changed in 2019 when the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) rolled out the Citizen Idling Complaint Programme.
The programme encouraged ordinary New Yorkers to report trucks that had been left idling for more than three minutes by taking a video and submitting it online. If the truck is found to be in violation, the person who reported the violation is entitled to up to 50% of the fines imposed on the vehicle.
Apparently, the new programme has been a massive hit. According to reports, multiple people have been so prolific in their reporting of violations that their rewards have added up to nearly $1 million each.
A report by the New York Post lists New Yorkers who have earned anywhere from $500,000 to $900,000 each since 2019.
But the party may soon be coming to an end as mounting criticism forms around the citizen programme. Even the DEP admitted to issues with the programme, stating that they had multiple instances of attempted fraud where someone submits the same video multiple times, claiming different violations in each.
Environmental Committee leader James Gennaro declared, “The days of the six-figure bounty hunters are over.”
“The programme has become an occupation,” he said. “The programme was not intended to be an occupation.”
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