Nearly six months after two rookie cops in Queens were accused of writing bogus summonses, Internal Affairs is now investigating officers in three other precincts for the same wrongdoing, according to police sources.
Sources told Newsday in May that the two rookies were working at the 113th Precinct in the early spring when they wrote 40 red-light and seat-belt summonses in one tour - a number considered difficult to reach because the officers were working regular patrol, responding to 911 calls.
A few days later their supervising sergeant determined the officers had submitted fraudulent overtime - claiming the summonses were written while working extra hours, police sources said.
The rookies were suspended, served their 30-day suspensions and have been on modified assignment ever since. The department has not publicly identified them, and it was not clear if they will be further disciplined.
Chief of Internal Affairs Charles Campisi did not respond to requests for comment, and the NYPD would only confirm the rookies are still on modified assignment.
A source close to Campisi says that shortly after the rookies' tickets were scrutinized Internal Affairs learned of other officers who may have written suspicious tickets.
The source wouldn't identify where those other cops are assigned, but two other sources familiar with the matter said the growing probe involves the 102nd, 103rd and 105th precincts. The sources also said at least several officers are under suspicion.
Steve Worth, a lawyer for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, declined to comment.
Problems involving phony tickets is nothing new.
An officer with the Housing Bureau is under investigation for writing about 80 such tickets.
And last August four NYPD traffic enforcement agents were arrested after Internal Affairs caught them making up infractions so they could fill out tickets and spend the rest of their shifts hanging out.
Two of the agents pleaded guilty to forgery and were placed on probation, and the other two pleaded to disorderly conduct and were then conditionally discharged.
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