BALTIMORE (Map, News) - It happens in the blink of an eye. A van with two city parking enforcement officers drives down a street, scanning license plates with two cameras mounted on the roof. As the van moves down the block, plates of parked cars pop up on a screen until it suddenly turns red. Busted.

In less than a second, the Department of Transportation’s new License Plate Recognition technology has found and flagged a parking scofflaw. A process that used to require an enforcement officer entering individual license plates by hand is now completed in a split second.

The benefit to the city? Faster, more efficient collection of parking fines, Safety Division Chief Ken Strong says.

“We used to catch roughly 250 scofflaws every two weeks; now it’s 350 over the same time period since we started using this new technology,” he said.

Indeed, driving along Fallsway Street nets two scofflaws and one stolen vehicle in less than a minute. Finding stolen vehicles, Strong said, is a big plus of the technology.

“In March we found 38 stolen cars; that’s something we didn’t do before,” he said.

The $200,000 technology was tested in December and has since been added to four parking enforcement vans that now regularly canvass city streets for scofflaws — drivers who have three or more parking tickets at least 30 days overdue. Because the database is merged with a national register of stolen cars, nearly 340,000 vehicles in all, the DOT can now assist police in locating and recovering stolen vehicles.

“It really is a big added benefit,” Strong said.

And there’s another plus for city residents who live in neighborhoods with residential parking restrictions, he said.

“The next step is using the technology to scan license plates to see if people have residential parking permits,” Strong said.

“In the past it was very labor intensive; now we can scan and tell immediately if a the car has a permit, then we can track the vehicles to make sure they don’t stay past residential time limits.”

Strong said the residential parking program could be implemented later this year.

Officers who use the new equipment said it helps them do a better job. “It saves us a lot of time,” said Kim Gorner, an officer in the scofflaw unit.

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com

Comments from Examiner Readers

2:32 PM MST on Mon., Feb. 4, 2008 re: "More solar-powered parking meters coming to Baltimore"

Examiner Reader said:
On two separate occassions the meters did not work. The first time it took my money and did not deliver a receipt. The second time it took some of my money, spit out some and did not register some, but kept it. On the first occassion the authority said they would refund my money, but it has been over a month and I have received nothing. I'm waiting for a response to the second incident but not holding my breath

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1:20 PM MST on Fri., Jan. 25, 2008 re: "Supervisor�s measure could please opposing sides on parking issues"

Examiner Reader said:
"This is classic SF Progressive oppression of the poor. By not requiring below market rate units to provide parking, it makes life harder for the poor living there to have the same convenience regarding their cars as everyone else expects." WRONG--this measure will reduce the cost of apartments by $50,000-$80,000. That's a big chunk of change, especially for the poor, and above all for those who can't afford cars in the first place. Why should the government FORCE you to buy a parking space when you don't want one? All this rule is give you FREEDOM OF CHOICE.

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11:15 AM MST on Wed., Jan. 23, 2008 re: "Supervisor�s measure could please opposing sides on parking issues"

Examiner Reader said:
Right on Tom, poor people don't drive so why not take away their parking. You progressives give me the creeps. The minimum is ONE parking space for every FOUR units of housing and you want to take that away. Tom, you and Peskin need to Get A LIFE! I bet that Mr. Peskin has at least 2 parking spaces in his million dollar condo in Nothe Beach. Leave us alone!!!

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10:01 AM MST on Wed., Jan. 23, 2008 re: "Supervisor�s measure could please opposing sides on parking issues"

Examiner Reader said:
This is classic SF Progressive oppression of the poor. By not requiring below market rate units to provide parking, it makes life harder for the poor living there to have the same convenience regarding their cars as everyone else expects. It makes a hard life still harder. Sad.

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12:01 PM MST on Thu., May. 10, 2007 re: "Illegally parked? New system photographs it"

Examiner Reader said:
I have been in Baltimore for the last 5 years. I have a disability, because of which my lower limbs are paralyzed. Recently, I have found a spurt in disability tags for parking in the last couple of years. I surveyed 7 vehicles on Redwood street, and found five had disabled tag!!! I have found that some young people in early 20s park their vehicle and walk 5 blocks without any trouble, and I on a wheelchair is unable to get a parking place. Sometimes it has been frustrating. The cops cannot do anything, as long as these disability tags certified indiscriminately by family physicians. Unfortunately, carrying a "illegal" disabled tags no longer is a social stigma. It has become as acceptable as illegal license. I hope, this letter brings some sense of morality and social responsibility to those people using disabled tags. They should understand the hardship they are causing to the disabled community. Regards, Jeremy

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9:33 AM MST on Thu., May. 10, 2007 re: "Illegally parked? New system photographs it"

kilteddude said:
Does this mean they will stop ticketing legally parked cars? I've got 2 tickets in the last year while parked legally.

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7:57 AM MST on Thu., May. 10, 2007 re: "Illegally parked? New system photographs it"

Examiner Reader said:
DAMN IT!

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4:45 AM MST on Thu., May. 10, 2007 re: "New ticket device puts illegal parkers on camera"

Ticket Amnesty said:
Ticket fines in Baltimore are absurd....so, don't pay them. Request and officer when you go to court for your ticket+fines and if he/she doesn't show (they rarely, if ever will) you only have to pay the fine + court costs....goodbye $800 fine on $21 ticket.

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