Our campaign began in 2016 after an NYPD assistant commissioner testified that the police receive an impossibly small number of complaints about placard abuse. A decade on the front lines has taught us that placard abuse is much more than a petty form of corruption. How things workPlacard abuse — or placard corruption, as we prefer to call it — describes the behavior of three distinct groups. In theory, official placard holder may only use their permits in authorized areas and for specific reasons related to their employment. The placard system doles out billions worth of special privileges in an economy that operates in the shadows.