Yes, it’s the height of hypocrisy for an officer to blatantly violate the very law he is paid to enforce.

Yes, it’s infuriating that if any one of us did this, the very same officer would turn around and give us a fat ticket.

Yes, it’s an example of arrogance, saying to the world, “Who’s gonna give ME a ticket?”

But these are not the important reasons. The real issue is the danger. What if a fire broke out -- in this case, at the next-door nursing home? Firefighters would be blocked from using the hydrant while our noble law-enforcement officer was chowing down on his bucket of chicken.

The NYPD apparently doesn’t share my concerns. As of this writing, they have failed to even respond to my simple question (which they required me to email): Are traffic agents authorized to park at hydrants on non-emergency calls?

Perhaps the NYPD spokesman doesn’t want to get back to me, because there really isn’t any good answer. If they are authorized (which I certainly hope they’re not), it would be a pathetic, embarrassing policy that I’m sure they’d rather not talk about. If they are not authorized, then the NYPD would have a problem explaining why no disciplinary action is taken against the officer.

I know what I’m going to do next time I see a Traffic Enforcement vehicle parked at a hydrant (I’m sure our friend is not the first nor the last to do this) – I’ll place one of the NYPD’s bright-orange ticket envelopes on the windshield.

Maybe it will make the agent think a little about it.

Then again, maybe not…