In New York City, you can spot a tourist from a mile away, making them ripe targets for swindlers trying to make a quick buck.
"They're ripping off tourists, they're taking advantage of them, and we have to stop that," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry.
So, on Wednesday night, police fanned out though some of the densest tourist spots in the world to crack down on pedicab scams and illegal vendors, in what's being dubbed as "Operation Front Door."
From his COVID quarantine, Mayor Eric Adams addressed the multi-agency taskforce, comprised of dozen of city employees, from police to sanitation, to address quality-of-life concerns.
"Tourism is a major economic engine, and when you look at these various pedicabs, and some of the other actions we've seen, it just takes away from the quality-of-life of our city. You know it, and I know it," Adams said.
It didn't take long for police to find problems to solve, impounding nearly two dozen pedicabs for a variety of code violations.
Daughtry says their operators do little but gouge tourists, and then harass them when they can't pay.
"Look at the side of the pedicab that says $8.99 per minute," Daughtry said. "Can you imagine? What ride are you going on for $8.99 per minute."
Police also targeted illegal street vendors, confiscating cheap knockoffs that go for hundreds of dollars on the street.
New York sees 63 million tourists a year. The fact that unscrupulous street hawkers would take advantage of them is nothing new, but with the holidays not far off, the city says it's taking action and cleaning up its front door.
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