The Brookline Police Department has started coming down hard on drivers who use other people’s handicapped placards to score prime parking spots in town.

Sergeant Robert Disario said the department started stepping up enforcement after receiving a series of complaints about able-bodied drivers abusing the placards, which allow drivers to leave their cars in designated handicapped parking spaces as well as park overnight on Brookline streets.

Police sought a 30-day license suspension for a man in his 30s last month after he admitted to using an 83-year-old relative’s placard for personal use. The man had reportedly parked in a handicapped parking space on Charles Street.

In addition to the suspension, police confiscated the placard and cited the man for wrongful use of a handicapped placard, which can carry a fine of $500 to $1000 under state law.