Police are handing out 14 percent fewer tickets for handicapped-parking violations, NYPD statistics show, with 4,424 issued this year though Dec. 3 compared to 5,132 during the same period in 2016.

“You would hope that it is people just behaving better, which they are probably not,” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Reserved parking spots for the disabled are available off-street, in parking mall parking lots, office and apartment buildings and college campuses.