Kaz Daughtry, the former New York City deputy mayor for public safety, is facing accusations that he handed NYPD parking placards to people who were not authorized to hold them, according to people familiar with the matter. The alleged off-the-books distribution prompted the department to void the identified permits and instruct officers to treat those invalidated placards as grounds for summons and seizure. Daughtry, who is no longer serving in his previous NYPD role, has denied any wrongdoing.
According to the New York Daily News, sources say Daughtry handed out more than a dozen NYPD restricted parking placards to people who were not authorized to have them. The outlet reports that Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch responded by ordering the identified permits invalidated and instructing officers to issue summonses and seize any invalid placards they come across, when possible.
DOI flagged uneven enforcement
Long before Daughtry’s name surfaced in connection with placard use, the problem was already on the city’s radar. In a 2024 report, the Department of Investigation found that the NYPD’s enforcement of parking-permit misuse at the street level was uneven and inadequate, a conclusion watchdog groups have repeatedly cited in pushing for tougher oversight. The review, produced under a City Council mandate, examined how city agencies issue and revoke permits and urged more rigorous tracking and revocation systems. The Department of Investigation published the analysis in April 2024.
How many permits are in circulation
Even with that scrutiny, the sheer number of restricted permits in circulation remains high. The NYPD issued 24,910 restricted permits in 2025, down only slightly from 26,076 in 2024, according to Streetsblog New York City. Reform advocates say those figures make street-level enforcement extremely difficult and create plenty of opportunities for misuse.
Daughtry, who filed for retirement from the NYPD in December 2025, told reporters he “hasn’t done anything wrong,” according to the New York Daily News. The paper also reported that city-issued phones and laptops assigned to Daughtry were believed to be missing when he filed for retirement, but were later located, according to sources.
Legal and political stakes
Misuse of a city-issued permit can trigger revocation, fines, and internal discipline, and the City Council has advanced a package of bills aimed at tightening both the application process and enforcement rules, according to the council’s data page. Watchdogs argue the weaknesses are institutional rather than isolated, and both DOI and council analyses note that complaints rarely lead to punitive measures, urging stronger controls and better record-keeping across the system. City Council materials lay out the reforms officials have proposed…