New York Police Department officers inspect a van that has been declared a "suspicious vehicle" and has caused numerous building evacuations and street closures near Times Square in New York December 30, 2009. Reuters	Members of the media and pedestrians inspect a van that has been declared a "suspicious vehicle" near Times Square in New York December 30, 2009. Reuters
Police try to keep pedestrians away from a suspicious van that was parked in Times Square, New York, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009. No explosive devices were found inside the van Wednesday afternoon, and the area was reopened to traffic about two hours after the incident began. AP	A person in a bomb suit walks around a suspicious van parked in Times Square, New York, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009. No explosive devices were found inside the van Wednesday afternoon, and the area was reopened to traffic about two hours after the incident began. AP

The following  placards were located in vehicles adjacent to several New York City secure locations. Placards and vehicle registration stickers can be forged. Placards can be stolen: none of these were attached to the vehicle, probably because they are removed from view when not in use. New York State's registration stickers have faulty adhesive and can be stolen. Free street parking space in New York City is treasured, worth thousands of dollars a year. Officials and their lobbyists are known to lie and cheat to get the privilege. There is a gray market for placards for cash, favors and barter. The Bloomberg administration claims it has attempted to limit the unscrupulous practice with little evidence of progress. Very important persons get space in barricaded underground garages or in slots off-street protected by multiple Delta barriers, with armed guards in wee huts hardly ever dozing. Don't bother complaining about identifying official vehicles. Nothing says the material below is believable, After all, this is more official chutzpah. A hair-raising vehicle was an unoccupied dilapidated dirty white van parked in a highly restricted street zone next to a premium-value target displaying a crude hand-scribbled placard, "DCAS," the initials of an NYC agency.
The most common placard seen adjacent to high-value targets were "Federal Law Enforcement." There were many of them, seeming to be vanity placemats, and vehicles displaying them are probably the least likely to be suspected. Some are so special they earn extra placards like the one red-code-worded below. Next most common were Police Department placards in various versions.
This placard has an electronic-readable chip in the lower right hand corner.
The bottom placard applies to "various govt plates." Department: SCIMITAR (?)
"Plate No.: Various." Registration sticker has fallen off or been removed.
Note warning about duplication and counterfeiting. Also has an electronic-readable chip at upper right.
The most popular placard in history.
In addition, there are placards for special constituencies: Press, disabled, clergy, medical doctors, and others. Examples:
Press pass and regulations in lieu of placard. The regulations appear to be also for film production.
A press conditions placard
A press placade over a year out of date,
New York State's notoriously lousy sticker adhesive -- this shows three efforts to tape-up the sticker.