маршал и свифт

And again, Marshal Swift found my vehicle parked with me in it, presumably by doing a random scan of license plates. And the details she filled in on the Court Order she then printed and under which used to seize my car are both incomplete and inaccurate.

Ms. Swift didn’t state but absolutely implied by her actions that she was a New York City employee and a peace officer. She is neither. Marshal Swift, in the course of distracting me long enough to have my car towed before I had a chance to argue, also stated fact improperly and incompletely when she told me that I could get my car back from her for $596 and failed to reveal she was able to take payment on the spot. By the next morning that number had risen to $724, and the employee with whom I dealt at Marshal Swift’s office as much as told me that I had incurred those extra fees by following Ms. Swift’s instructions to call her office in the morning. Why would Marshall Swift mislead me in that way? Because it created extra revenue for her.

But Mayor Bloomberg, please understand that the New York City Marshals program, regardless of its financial success, is essentially a form of legalized extortion.

As a business person and advocate of and consultant on business change, I have no problem whatsoever with the City of New York or anyone else finding inventive ways to do business. That includes collecting debts, and although I fought the older of these two tickets on procedural grounds and believe I was in the right, the city of New York believes otherwise and has put a system in place to boost their collection efforts. I applaud this. This is .

Here’s the business change part of things:

New York City Marshals aren’t paid by the city. In fact, they pay the city an annual fee for theВPprivilegeВPofВPwearingВPthat Marshal’s badge, as well as a percentage of everything they collect.ВPNew York City Marshals, pure and simple, are bounty hunters. Who knew?

I found my way home, did some research, convinced myself that there really is such a thing as a New York City Marshal and that Linda Swift is one, and was surprised to discover that while New York City Marshals are “city officials” appointed by the Mayor (I presume that Ms. Swift was appointed by current Mayor Michael Bloomberg), they aren’t New York City employees.

There are enough errors in the way that Order is constructed that any first-year law student could get it thrown out of court. Nevertheless, by the time Marshal Swift had finished explaining to me that I needed to call her office in the morning to get instructions to pay the $596 I owed to retrieve my car (the amount on the order plus fees), my car had vanished. And possession, as the old clichГY goes, is 90% of the law. I believe that Ms. Swift confiscated my car improperly and that I could prove so in court, but that isn’t material; I needed to get my car back.

Marshal Swift and her posse asked that I walk toward their large, dark, menacing van, from which she produced a court order authorizing her to seize my vehicle as collateral for outstanding parking tickets:

I’ll bet you’ve never heard of a “New York City Marshal”. Neither had I. But between the show of force and the badge, I was stunned long enough to do as I was toldвІ which of course is what Marshal Swift was counting on.

On Tuesday evening I was sitting in my parked car, waiting to pick up a friend at an event that was ending at a building in midtown Manhattan. A large man knocked on my window, asked me to roll it down, and when I fumbled trying to turn on the car so I could do that took it upon himself to open my car door. At that point, two other large men arrived at the side of my vehicle escorting a woman wearing a badge around her neck detective-style, who identified herself as “New York City Marshal Linda Swift”, demanding that I get out of my car.

I don’t think Marshal Linda Swift broke any laws

While a long description of the actions I suffered this week at the hands of one New York City Marshal might not seem to have any business lessons, I promise, they do

That’s OK; I use examples from my personal life to talk business change all the time

I’m fully aware that I’m venting here

Let’s start with full disclosure:

Ever had your car towed away unexpectedly? How about being removed from your car by someone implying themselves to be a law enforcementВPofficial? I’d like to introduce you to the New York City Marshal program, and particularly to one City Marshal, Linda Swift.

New York City Marshal Linda Swift and Legalized Extortion

› › New York City Marshal Linda Swift and Legalized Extortion

Legalized Extortion by New York City Marshal Linda Swift