Not to be out done by its Channel 7 rival (see video on main page of CSLEA Web site), Channel 4, the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles, just ran a two-part series on handicap placard abuse, only this time in Downtown Los Angeles, where no one can seem to find a parking space anymore.

Why? Because 80 percent of the cars parked at meters had a handicap placard.

But when Channel 4 reporter Joel Grover caught up with the beefy merchant who had his big black Hummer parked on the street, and the travel agent whose shiny Jaguar was also at a meter, even the hot dog vendor had his placard, all of them appeared to be in fine health.

Grover interviewed a Los Angeles parking enforcement official who said the city didn't have enough resources to write citations of handicap placard abuse. This left it to just CSLEA and AMVIC-member DMV investigators--and did they respond in a big way!

"During this one downtown sting, the DMV confiscated dozens of placards, towed cars of placard abusers and wrote 46 criminal citations for placard misuse, a record for a DMV sting of this kind," reported Grover. "If found guilty, these people face a maximum penalty of $3500 dollars and six months in jail."