By Y.M. Lowy

Nearly half of the civil summonses issued by NYPD officers over the past year were thrown out.

The NYPD issued about 98,000 civil summonses for violations including open containers, unlicensed vending, pedicab violations and construction materials left in the street. About 47% of the summonses handled by the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings were thrown out.

Many of the cases involved problems with the paperwork. One issue drawing attention is the NYPD’s continued use of handwritten civil summonses. Errors such as incorrect information, illegible writing, wrong legal codes or missing details can make it difficult for the city to properly process a ticket.

The city Department of Investigation has previously recommended that agencies move away from handwritten summonses and switch to electronic systems. Several other city agencies have already done so.

The NYPD is working to reduce these errors through additional training for officers. The department also maintains that a ticket being thrown out over a technical issue does not mean the underlying violation did not occur.