Open Source Data Reveals Police Blunders

A blogger in New York has used public data to prove that the New York Police Department (NYPD) ticketed thousands of cars that were actually parked legally.

Ben Wellington made the discovery after officers kept ticketing his own car, parked on a pavement ramp on the street where he lives.

"It was a surprising find," Mr. Drivers have been allowed to park in some of these spaces since 2009.The NYPD wrote to Wellington to confirm his findings and sent a message to officers clarifying the rules.

To discover the extent of the problem, Wellington examined data published through New York City's Open Data portal, which includes information on the most common parking places in the city where tickets are issued to cars on pedestrian ramps.

He then checked some of the locations via Google Street View to ensure that the ramps were not connected to a crosswalk - in which case the ticket would have been justified. At one spot in Brooklyn, $48,000 (£33,000) had been issued in erroneous fines over a two and a half year, period.

Wellington detailed several examples on his blog, I Quant NY, including three more spaces at each of which more than $40,000 (£27,500) in fines had been given out over the same period.

"It was a surprising find," Mr. Wellington told the BBC. "What I was actually most surprised by was the response from the police department who basically said, 'yep, that's all true' - that's an unusual thing to happen when working with public data."

In a statement, the NYPD said: "Mr. Wellington's analysis identified errors the department made in issuing parking summonses. "It appears to be a misunderstanding by officers on patrol of a recent, abstruse change in the parking rules." We appreciate Mr. Wellington bringing this anomaly to our attention." It added that while traffic agents had been trained following the adoption of new rules in 2009, officers had not. A message has now been sent to all officers updating them on pedestrian ramp regulations.

To allow others a means of quickly checking which pedestrian ramp parking spaces are most frequently ticketed, Wellington has plotted the 1,000 most common locations on an interactive map.

"I think all those spots got eight or more tickets in the last two-and-a-half years," said Mr. Wellington. "The list of five or more tickets had about 2,000 spots."

Mr. Wellington has used open data in the past to challenge ticketing decisions in the city. He said he hopes his latest success will help to empower fellow citizens. "I see it as a sign of what the future of government could look like as more data gets out and more citizens have the ability to look through that data and make recommendations for how cities could run better," he said.

Mr. Wellington added that he plans to do a follow-up analysis six months or a year from now, to check whether the number of erroneously issued tickets at pedestrian ramps has fallen.

Open Cities

Use of public data in cities around the world has increased in recent years. The Future Spaces Foundation think tank, based in London, recently reported on how much transport data had been made openly available in various cities around the world.

For example, there are now more than 460 apps powered by Transport for London data while, in Singapore, commuters are able to access information on the current levels of standing room and seating available on public transport.

The city's Land Transport Authority app also includes data on the availability of parking spaces near to a passenger's destination.

BBC: http://bbc.in/1rYYikT

« Achieving Holistic Cybersecurity
First Shots Of A New Cyber War »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Check Point

Directory of Suppliers

Tines

Tines

The Tines security automation platform helps security teams automate manual tasks, making them more effective and efficient.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

NRD Cyber Security

NRD Cyber Security

NRD Cyber Security create a secure digital environment for countries, governments, and organisations and implement cybersecurity resilience enhancement projects around the world.

Robert Half Technology

Robert Half Technology

Robert Half Technology offers a full spectrum of technology staffing solutions to meet contract and full-time IT recruitment needs.

Paygilant

Paygilant

Paygilant’s disruptive technology is designed to protect mobile payment  financial transactions against fraudulent attacks, whether executed by NFC, QR code, P2P or in-app.

Visual Guard

Visual Guard

Visual Guard is a modular solution covering most application security requirements, from application-level security systems to Corporate Identity and Access Management Solutions.

National Security Authority (NBU) - Slovakia

National Security Authority (NBU) - Slovakia

The National Security Authority (NBU) is the central government body in Slovakia for the Protection of Classified Information, Cryptographic Services, Trust Services and Cyber Security.

Secon Cyber Security

Secon Cyber Security

Secon Cyber Security is an Advanced Managed Security Services Provider with long standing experience of providing cyber security solutions to customers ranging from small to large enterprises.

Sadoff E-Recycling & Data Destruction

Sadoff E-Recycling & Data Destruction

Sadoff E-Recycling and Data Destruction protect the environment and your data with proven and trusted electronics recycling and data destruction services.

Digital Fingerprints

Digital Fingerprints

Digital Fingerprints provides continuous authentication with behavioural biometrics. Protection against account takeover and session takeover. Compliant with GDPR and PSD2.

Industrial Defender

Industrial Defender

Committed to ICS Cybersecurity. Industrial Defender provides a fully automated solution to discover, track and report on assets across your ICS footprint.

Control System Cyber Security Association International (CS2AI)

Control System Cyber Security Association International (CS2AI)

CS2AI is the premier global not for profit workforce development organization supporting professionals of all levels charged with securing control systems.

ImpactQA

ImpactQA

ImpactQA is a global leading software testing & QA consulting company. Ten years of excellence. Delivering unmatched services & digital transformation to SMEs & Fortune 500 companies.

Suresecure

Suresecure

Suresecure are a specialised consulting company providing Strategic IT security consulting, Managed Security Services, and Incident Response Management.

Cyber Security Authority (CSA) - Ghana

Cyber Security Authority (CSA) - Ghana

The Cyber Security Authority has been established to regulate cybersecurity activities in Ghana.

Akto

Akto

Akto, the plug & play API security platform. Discover your APIs, run tests and find business logic vulnerabilities at ludicrous speed.

NetRise

NetRise

NetRise was founded as a direct result of the many shortcomings currently in the device security market, specifically targeting the firmware of devices.

Olympix

Olympix

Dev-first Web3 security that starts at the source. Olympix is a pioneering DevSecOps tool that puts security in the hands of the developer by proactively securing code from day one.