Officer Tracks Down Parking Scofflaw, Writes Own Ticket

NUTLEY, N.J. — A suburban New Jersey police officer has set a new standard for good citizenship: He wrote himself a parking ticket.

Nutley Police Sgt. Steven Rogers said Friday he realized he had parked too close to a street corner and issued himself a $17 ticket.

“Police have to set examples,” he said. “So I paid the ticket.”

Rogers said he had pulled his patrol car over to help a woman struggling with some packages Wednesday, then went into a nearby diner and forgot about his car.

A resident called police headquarters to report that the car was parked illegally, and a dispatcher notified the officer by radio.

“It just skipped my mind where the car was,” said Rogers, a 22-year veteran of the police force. “But that’s no excuse.”

“I was thinking about pleading not guilty, but I would have had to cross-examine myself in court,” he added jokingly. “Besides, my integrity means a lot to me.”