Madison Police Department’s parking enforcement officers are now better equipped to identify violators of time-restricted parking.
In an effort to increase efficiency, MPD recently purchased and installed autoChalk systems in two parking unit vehicles. The “virtual chalking” system will allow officers, while traveling up to 25 miles per hour in city streets, to scan and take photographs of parked cars on both sides of the street, according to a statement from the MPD.
When the system, which includes a car-mounted camera, laptop, GPS unit and laser, detects a violation after the time limit expires, an alarm notifies the officer.
By recording the date and time on each photo, autoChalk eliminates ambiguity over how long a car has been parked in a time-restricted zone. Based on the photographic evidence, an officer may issue a citation.
Proponents hope the new system will encourage parking enforcement officials to redouble their efforts to reduce noncompliance.
“The main motivation for voting to purchase them was the frustration of several of us on the City Council that parking enforcement officers were not enforcing two-hour parking restrictions,” said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who, along with his fellow City Council members, approved the funding for the program last fall as an amendment to the 2009 capital budget.
Under the previous system, parking enforcement officials manually marked tires with chalk, a less efficient and weather-dependent process.
“It was very labor-intensive and that was why it was largely a low priority for parking enforcement officers,” Verveer said. “Often they did not have enough resources or enough officers working to have one mark the tires and another come back and cite the offenders. So the chalkings were few and far between.”
The currently lax enforcement of two-hour parking restrictions, Verveer argues, allows commuters to cheat the system and thereby deprive residents of the already limited spaces, for which they may purchase permits.
Parking enforcement officials have completed training and are currently using two autoChalk systems.
