Five Strikes …
And Your Car Towed 

Parking Ticket Scofflaws Could See Cars Towed Thanks to New Device 

LPRs, like this device on top of a city of Miami Beach parking vehicle, may soon be a common sight.

“This system assists us in identifying outstanding violations.”

By Nicole Alibayof  

Finding a legal parking spot and paying the money-meter will not keep you safe from the possibility of your car being towed — not if you have outstanding parking tickets.

The cities of Miami Beach and Miami started testing vehicle-adapted License Plate Recognition systems in June 2006 as another way of apprehending people who do not pay their parking tickets.

LPR is a new technology system that assists street-level officers in recovering vehicles reported stolen and identifying scofflaw vehicles, said Deborah Hess, manager of the Parking Violations Bureau in Miami-Dade County.

LPRs are infrared cameras placed on car roofs. They can photograph license plates of parked cars while mounted on a vehicle traveling about 15 miles per hour. The license plate numbers are then run through a database inside the parking enforcement vehicle that is connected to the rooftop scanning device.

If the information found reveals the vehicle has more than five outstanding parking tickets, the file is sent to a magistrate who can issue a court order to impound the vehicle, said Saul Frances, director of the Miami Beach Parking Department. Once there is proof the tickets have been paid, the owner is permitted to pick up the car after also paying the towing fee.

“This system assists us in identifying outstanding violations,” Frances said. “It may also assist in performing utilization studies through license plate surveys, a very common tool in the industry to determine parking and traffic usage.”

Hess said the new device is precise and that all of the stolen vehicles, fraud tags and “scofflaws” identified during testing were accurate.

Miami-Dade County processes, collects and adjudicates all parking violations for all its municipalities. This system is an extension of that process and merely another tool provided by the county to enhance operations, Frances said.

Miami-Dade County is considering two vendors, AutoVu and Remington Elsag Law Enforcement Systems, to provide the new LPR system. A bid process will be used to help choose the vendor, a decision that will come after testing the systems, comparing performance and price and checking with current users.

Remington Elsag Law Enforcement Systems works with many police agencies that utilize the $21,000 LPR system, said Mark Windover, the company president.

“Our customers are elated about our product,” Windover said. “It’s a miraculous, life-saving technology.”

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