Former S.F. cop gets two years for taxi-test bribe scheme

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

A former San Francisco police officer was sentenced to two years in prison Friday for pocketing bribes in exchange for issuing passing grades to prospective taxi drivers taking the city’s licensing test.

Paul Makaveckas, 70, was found guilty of two felony counts of bribery in July.

While assigned to the city’s taxi detail from 2007 to 2009, the 36-year department veteran accepted $100 payments from drivers seeking a guaranteed passing grade.

Prosecutors believe he took in about $25,000. He allegedly worked through a friend and owner of the Flag-A-Cab taxi school, William Hancock, who would meet with the applicants during the test’s lunch break at the Hall of Justice to collect the bribes.

The FBI eventually launched an investigation and had Hancock wear a hidden microphone, which allegedly recorded Makaveckas accepting $500 in bribes in March 2009.

Government licensing does mean corruption. Just a reminder.