Police Parking Rights

[whimangb]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I don't know if this is the right place for this, but I hope it is. Sorry if it's not.

Southern California's cities are getting stricter and stricter about parking (I know, you noticed). Meters are everywhere, it seems.
Please can someone tell me in what, if any, circumstances a police officer may park on a meter without paying the fee?
Must the officer be in a marked police vehicle?
How do detectives in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles cope?

If it's not legal for a police officer to park on as meter, to whom should one report an infringement?

Thanks.

 

[Antigone*]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I don't know if this is the right place for this, but I hope it is. Sorry if it's not.

Southern California's cities are getting stricter and stricter about parking (I know, you noticed). Meters are everywhere, it seems.
Please can someone tell me in what, if any, circumstances a police officer may park on a meter without paying the fee?
Must the officer be in a marked police vehicle?
How do detectives in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles cope?

If it's not legal for a police officer to park on as meter, to whom should one report an infringement?

Thanks.

How does this damage you?

This is the day of the blue moon, right??? Awww man, it is going to be a long day on FA!!!

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I don't know if this is the right place for this, but I hope it is. Sorry if it's not.

Southern California's cities are getting stricter and stricter about parking (I know, you noticed). Meters are everywhere, it seems.
Please can someone tell me in what, if any, circumstances a police officer may park on a meter without paying the fee?
Must the officer be in a marked police vehicle?
How do detectives in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles cope?

If it's not legal for a police officer to park on as meter, to whom should one report an infringement?

Thanks.

Well, you'd report it to the police. Pretty ironic, huh?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Does it really make sense for a city police officer to insert a coin into the meter, put in for reimbursement from the city, have the city reimburse the officer from the city treasury, and later remove the coin from the meter and put it into the city treasury?

 

[dave33]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I don't know if this is the right place for this, but I hope it is. Sorry if it's not.

Southern California's cities are getting stricter and stricter about parking (I know, you noticed). Meters are everywhere, it seems.
Please can someone tell me in what, if any, circumstances a police officer may park on a meter without paying the fee?
Must the officer be in a marked police vehicle?
How do detectives in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles cope?

If it's not legal for a police officer to park on as meter, to whom should one report an infringement?

Thanks.

This is not an issue that concerns you. Move on.

 

[>Charlotte<]

In my town all city vehicles have a sticker somewhere identifying them as such. Sometimes the license plate number begins with "P", depending on the department.

Maybe yours. too.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

In my town all city vehicles have a sticker somewhere identifying them as such.

Why, are city-folk more important than town-folk?

 

[xylene]

Get what you give.

How does this damage you?

Police parking with impunity is a trivial matter...

Until draconian parking fines and aggressive parking enforcement become an important source of city income.

A nuance become hypocrisy when heavy regressive taxation rules the day.


The motoring public is getting the business...

Ratchets up my pride and respect levels.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Think of the tax dollars you save by them illegally parking.

 

[CdwJava]

Imagine the calls we could ignore if we had to park legally all the time! "Sorry, I would take your burglary report, but there was no place to park so you'll have to take your own pictures, lift some prints,a nd then come down to the station so we can take your statement."

I honestly cannot find the legal exemption for city and county vehicles in certain parking situations, but it would be ludicrous to mandate that city and county vehicles feed a meter when on duty and official functions because they would be putting city/county money into a meter, taking it out at the other end, and costing them money for the time and processing when it would have been cheaper simply not to put anything in at all. In some cities that would effectively preclude any government work at all.

We should always strive to park legally, but sometimes our job requires otherwise ... yes, I might block a handicapped stall if I have to bail out of a patrol car to break up a fight. I doubt the public would understand if, instead, I drove past and circled the lot looking for a free parking space while some guy thumped his girlfriend into the ground.

But, if this is your pet peeve, by all means run with it. Talk to the City Manager, the Police Chief, the City Council and the media! Let us know how it works out.

 

[whimangb]

Yes, well, I only asked as the man said. I asked, of course, because (as another man said) I wanted to know.

As for what I think, I think emergency vehicles (police, ambulance, fire departments) should not have to pay to park. I was trying to find out where it said that was legally so, and I thought (since I couldn't find it anywhere) the place to which one reported infringements (always assuming there could be any) would have a list if no-one else did. Seems I was wrong. Seems there's no list. For the sake of the emergency services, I think there should be.

But, gee, what a fuss! One or two people appear to have decided what I meant and what I thought...wrongly.

Thanks for the interest, anyway.

 

[Zigner]

Yes, well, I only asked as the man said. I asked, of course, because (as another man said) I wanted to know.

As for what I think, I think emergency vehicles (police, ambulance, fire departments) should not have to pay to park. I was trying to find out where it said that was legally so, and I thought (since I couldn't find it anywhere) the place to which one reported infringements (always assuming there could be any) would have a list if no-one else did. Seems I was wrong. Seems there's no list. For the sake of the emergency services, I think there should be.

But, gee, what a fuss! One or two people appear to have decided what I meant and what I thought...wrongly.

Thanks for the interest, anyway.

It's that darn full moon!

 

[whimangb]

Hi, folks.

I thought I'd share this with you. The answer is in the Los Angeles Municipal Code, Chapter VIII. It says what type of vehicles are exempt from meters. In addition, I'm told that 'LAPD vehicles are exempt from meter. LAPD Undercover vehicles are a challenge since they are unmarked, and as such they are cited on occasion. Other vehicles also exempted are government vehicles with "E" plates. "E" stands for Exempt. I believe plates starting with numeral "1" replaced the "E" plate nowadays. City also issue Mileage Placard to City Inspectors who uses personal vehicles for field inspection. Condition for the Mileage Placard is that it can only be used for official city business. But the worst culprit of all are the Disabled Placard (DP). Vehicles with Disabled Placard are exempted at the parking meters. And there seemed to be endless DP's out in the street. Majority are used by non-disabled persons such as family member, relatives or helper of disabled for which the DP was issued to. Hope this helps.'

I can't say who told me this as it was in a private email. However, I can say the person is an employee of LADOT Parking Meter Division. It's good to know emergency vehicles can legally part without paying not just because it's a good idea. But does the law have to be tucked away where no-one, hardly, can find it?

My thanks to the person who enlightened me.

 

[HighwayMan]

I thought I'd share this with you. The answer is in the Los Angeles Municipal Code...

I don't think you ever asked about Los Angeles - you said "southern California".

It's good to know emergency vehicles can legally part (sic) without paying not just because it's a good idea. But does the law have to be tucked away where no-one, hardly, can find it?

Who would be looking for it besides you? Maybe you should lobby your local legislators so that all local governments as well as the state should post all laws on billboards so they're not "hidden".

 

[whimangb]

I don't think you ever asked about Los Angeles - you said "southern California".



Who would be looking for it besides you? Maybe you should lobby your local legislators so that all local governments as well as the state should post all laws on billboards so they're not "hidden".

I mentioned cities and Southern California, though now I come to think of it I haven't seen many meters in the desert or the mountains. I confess, though that to me Southern California does tend to be Los Angeles more or less exclusively. I must explain myself more clearly in future.

With regard to your no doubt well-meant suggestion, I can't support a move to have all laws posted on billboards. It would be silly. At the same time, I believe better indexing of some parts, at least, of the legal code would make it easier to find what one was looking for. Further, I believe the law on any subject should be set out so that people can find it reasonably easily. In this context, people means one person or a million people or 250 million.