Ticket Copies Found Trashed in Detroit

DETROIT (WJBK) - Friday was garbage pickup day on Ardmore Street in northwest Detroit. Some neighbors saw something that sparked their curiosity. They asked not to be identified.

"We noticed an officer driving down the street just kind of cruising," said one man.

"I observe an officer throw something in two trash cans," a second man said. "The first trash can he threw something in, it was just food, and the second trash can, I went down there and checked. It was a bunch of tickets, already (written) out tickets, people's information."

The tickets were all issued on Thursday, the day before they were trashed. They're all signed by an Officer Jeffery Williams.

All the ticket copies intended for the garbage contain people's addresses, their driver's license numbers, their VIN numbers and their plate numbers.

The witnesses say the officer appeared cautious.

"I don't think he (knew) that he was being watched because he hesitated. He hesitated," said the second man. "I wondered what he threw away, so I went down there, took a peek and … all these tickets (were) in there."

A police department spokesperson said disposing of the ticket copies in that way violates department regulations. The incident is now under investigation.

"Even if these tickets don't mean (anything), he shouldn't (have thrown) them away because they have (everybody's) information," the second man told FOX 2's Bill Gallagher. "What if I would've been a person that got a hold of this and started fraud."

"These … documents … (are) important, so I think they should be treated as such," the first man said.