---
title: "An NYC Man Earned Nearly $5,000 in 2018 by Whistleblowing on Vehicles Illegally Idling on Streets"
description: "\"Snitches get riches.\" Wait, that's not the saying, is it?"
date: "2019-04-29"
modified: "2019-04-29"
authors:
  - name: "Chris Tsui"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/chris-tsui"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/27719/one-new-yorker-made-nearly-5000-last-year-snitching-on-idling-trucks-and-buses"
categories:
  - "News"
---

# An NYC Man Earned Nearly $5,000 in 2018 by Whistleblowing on Vehicles Illegally Idling on Streets

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2019/04/nyc-idling-truck-ticket-e1556557465616.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Last year, [New York City](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/24522/a-locals-guide-to-being-slowly-choked-to-death-by-traffic-in-new-york-city-in-five-vehicles>) launched a cash reward program for any citizens who blew the whistle on commercial vehicles that violated the city's [anti-idling](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/20726/california-man-arrested-for-leaving-his-car-idling-in-parking-lot>) law, parking by a curb with [the engine running](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/17269/report-letting-your-car-warm-up-in-the-cold-could-be-illegal-in-your-state>) for over three minutes (or one minute in a school zone). For a small group of, um, enterprising New Yorkers, this has proven to be quite the lucrative side-hustle.

According to the [*New York Post*](<https://nypost.com/2019/04/28/how-new-yorkers-are-making-bank-ratting-out-idling-drivers/>), NYC's Department of Environmental Protection awards 25 percent of the generated fines and paid out a total of $20,000 to a group of just 13 amateur informants in 2018. All in all, the city issued 1,038 idling-related summonses last year compared to just 24 in 2017.

The program's top earner, a lawyer named David Dong, reportedly made $4,912.80 off of 47 violations. Nipping at his heels is theater worker Zachary Tinkelman, who took home $4,600 from the same number of summonses. Coming in third is George Pakenhem, a banker who was apparently instrumental in the program's inception and made $4,300 from ratting idlers out last year.

Interestingly, it sounds like the program's top contributors all kind of know each other because Pakenham spoke to the *Post* and said Dong is "a machine" who's "very aggressive" and "really pursuing this in an entrepreneurial way."

The fine for idling too long on a New York City street ranges from $350 to $2,000 for repeat offenders. Citizens who notice an offending vehicle can tattle file a complaint by submitting a DEP form along with a time-stamped photo or video evidence. Pakenhem says it typically takes three months to collect a bounty from the day of submission.

"Citizens are doing the job that the police don't wish to do and they're being compensated for it, " says Pakenhem. "And at the same time they're cleaning up the air in New York City, so it's a trifecta of wins, so to speak."

## Author
Chris Tsui is *The Drive*'s former Reviews Editor and current freelance automotive journalist. He's based in Toronto.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/cltsuii/>)