- Parking enforcement officer
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A parking attendant vehicle in San Francisco.
A parking enforcement officer or parking attendant and sometimes parking inspector[1] is a member of a traffic control department or agency who issues tickets for parking violations. Where parking meters are used, they may be known as a meter attendant[2] or a traffic warden (British English). The term meter maid is defined by the Random House Dictionary as "a female member of a police or traffic department responsible for issuing tickets for parking violations," and lists the term as an Americanism originating between 1955 and 1960.[3] The term is sometimes used derogatorily, for both female and male attendants. The term meter Nazi[neutrality is disputed] is a strictly pejorative term.
Their use is controversial and they are often perceived as being overzealous. In the UK, this is likely due to high pressure management focused around delivering a certain number of tickets per day leading to allegations of corruption and illegality.[4] This brings accusations that their real purpose is to raise revenue for the local authority rather than keep the traffic moving. Those who receive fines argue that the "punishment does not fit the crime", pointing to the size of fines levied for minor parking violations in comparison with fines generally issued for more serious motoring offences or other offences such as shoplifting. Public dislike of parking attendants in the UK is such that they have been issued stab-proof vests and cotton swabs to take DNA samples when members of the public spit on them, for later prosecution.
Contents
Other duties
On 9 December 2007 the mayor of Stockholm Mikael Söderlund announced that the tasks of the Parking enforcement officers will be broadened to include fining graffiti vandals and litterers. Trade union representatives say they are not prepared to take on new tasks, already stretched by metering cars, and that they fear the risk of violence. With the elimination of the role of traffic warden in England and the creation of the Civil enforcement officer position, many CEOs now routinely issue fixed penalties for such offences as littering, public drinking, anti-social behaviour, noise violations and other locally enacted ordinances. Those authorities in England that invested in vehicles with onboard computer and camera equipment have also begun policing bus lanes.[5]
By country
Australia
The Surfers Paradise Meter Maids were introduced to the world in 1965 by local businessman Bernie Elsey to provide a positive spin on parking regulations. Instead of issuing tickets for expired parking, the Meter Maids dispensed coins into the meter and left a calling card under the windscreen wiper of the vehicle.
Initially introduced as a countermeasure against the unpopularity of parking meters installed the previous year, the Maids are known for their gold bikini outfits and (now defunct) tiaras.
Ticket-issuing parking inspectors continue to patrol streets to enforce parking regulations, and the Gold Coast City Council is installing voucher-dispensing parking machines in place of traditional parking meters, leaving 'meter maids' unable to top up the meter to protect vehicles from being fined by parking inspectors.
Canada
See Bylaw Enforcement Officer.
In Canada, parking enforcement duties are frequently handled under the umbrella of bylaw enforcement by Bylaw Enforcement Officers. No jurisdictions remain where persons employed for the purpose of enforcing traffic bylaws are referred to as "Meter Maids" and increasingly fewer offices of "Parking Enforcement Officer" exist. Most officials once employed as PEOs are now utilized to perform a variety of bylaw enforcement duties, often including Animal Control or the enforcement of other bylaws. The position is increasingly upgraded to that of the more professional position of Bylaw Enforcement Officer.The cities of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver still employ officials with the title of Parking Enforcement Officer. These officers are a sub-division of their respective police force in the case of Montreal and Toronto: the Montreal SPVM (where they are nicknamed "Green Onions" due to their formerly green uniforms) and the Toronto Police Service (where they have been nicknamed the 'Blue Hornet' because of the blue uniform stripe, which is red on police officers' uniforms).
Canadian Parking Enforcement Officers are de facto Peace Officers while in the performance of their duties and inasmuch as that designation is required for the performance of their duties, even if they are not sworn officers or constables. Case law has upheld this legal interpretation. See Bylaw Enforcement Officer for case-law excerpts. This means that assault on a Canadian Parking Enforcement Officer or Bylaw Officer conducting traffic bylaw enforcement is punisheable under the Criminal Code of Canada as Assault on a Peace Officer and carries higher penalties than standard assault.
In some areas in Canada, parking enforcement services are subcontracted to a private organization, such as the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires.[6]
United Kingdom
There are two types of civilian parking enforcement officer in the United Kingdom.
Civil enforcement officers, previously known as parking attendants, are employed by local authorities. Since the advent of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement, they have largely replaced traffic wardens as the primary enforcers of parking regulations. They have the power to issue Penalty Charge Notices. In Northern Ireland, they enforce parking laws using powers under the Traffic Management (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 and are known as Traffic Attendants. Civil enforcement officers normally patrol on foot. However, some use cars or mopeds, particularly in larger areas.
Traffic wardens are employees of police forces and have more powers with regards the circulation of traffic. Their usage is less common since the advent of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement.
In popular culture
The term 'meter maid' was popularised in The Beatles' song "Lovely Rita," in which the male singer, smitten with a traffic warden, recalls:
- Standing by a parking meter, when I caught a glimpse of Rita
- Filling in a ticket in her little white book.
- In a cap she looked much older,
- And the bag across her shoulder
- Made her look a little like a military man.
References
- ^ "Occupation Information - Parking Inspector". myfuture. http://www.myfuture.edu.au/services/default.asp?FunctionID=5050&ASCO=811917A. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ United States Department of Labor Dictionary of Occupational Titles, classification number 375.587-010
- ^ [1] Entry for "meter maid" Random House Dictionary, 2011.
- ^ "UK | Magazine | Confessions of a parking attendant". BBC News. 2005-06-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4596907.stm. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ Anders Sundström (2007-12-09). "P-vakter blir klotterjägare" (in (Swedish)). DN.se. http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1298&a=722945. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ "Canadian Corps of Commissionaires "Enforcement Services"". Commissionaires.ca. http://www.commissionaires.ca/national/en/services-business/business-enforcement/. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
External links
Categories:- Parking
- Parking law
- Law enforcement occupations
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