Sanitation Police - the Dirtiest Job in Law Enforcement

The New York City Department of Sanitation is the lead agency in the city's fight against litter and illegal dumping.

Sanitation Police Officers have the same authority as any New York City cop but focus on sanitation laws and enforcement. Sanitation police officers routinely conduct patrols in marked and unmarked police vehicles, wear traditional uniforms or plain clothes, and issue citations to violators of sanitation laws.

A major portion of the effort of sanitation police is geared towards combating illegal dumping. Due to the high cost of legally disposing of waste, many people find it acceptable to make public streets, parks, parking lots, and sidewalks into personal dumping sites.

In cases of illegal dumping sanitation officers must catch the dumper in the act of illegally dumping in order for a successful attempt at prosecution. In order to do this many sanitation officers perform stake outs and surveillance operations of known illegal dumping sites. Those involved in the dumping are usually arrested and their vehicles are usually impounded.

The City of New York attaches heavy fines for illegal dumping, ranging from $1,000 to $20,000.

Sanitation police officers are fully empowered to pull vehicles over for routine traffic purposes if they see any instances of sanitation violations like trash being thrown from a moving vehicle. In one instance, it was discovered that the driver of a vehicle that was involved in a littering incident was operating the motor vehicle on a suspended license and couldn't provide any paperwork for his van.

Many residents of New York City complain that the Department of Sanitation is more corrupt than anything else. Message boards across the Internet are alive with people who say the best way to avoid fines from the Sanitation Police is to tip the garbage collectors every Christmas. While the trash collectors are not the ones issuing the fines, many feel that the two agency workers are in cahoots for personal gain. This may seem a bit farfetched, but those who claim to tip the trash collectors with a hundred bucks or two every Christmas claim that they have never had any problem with sanitation police enforcing various residential sanitation codes like having a dirty sidewalk in front of their home or failing to properly separate recyclables.

Perhaps the sanitation police just get a bad rap. Many people don't realize what these guys have to put up with on a day to day basis. As if having to bother people about the way they dump their trash wasn't enough, members of the Department of Sanitation Police Department must also worry about every other occupational hazard that is inherent in law enforcement.