Expanding on the Aug. 26 Viewpoints letter “Why the sudden crackdown on parking?” I second this. I received a ticket this past Wednesday, for allegedly overstaying in a 2-hour zone by a meager 14 minutes, on a block my coworkers and I have not had issues with prior.
What struck me about the particular citation was a line stating, “chalked time: 2:13 p.m.” Our 7th U.S. Circuit Court is behind the 6th on this matter, in declaring the practice a violation of our 4th Amendment, but I was nevertheless curious. I proceeded to try and find the chalked line on my tire indicating my vehicle had not moved. There was no mark, I then wondered if these Oak Park enforcers were removing their mark after reaping their bounty.
The curiosity grew to compel a 45-minute call to the parking enforcement office the next day when the office staff resumed their post. After being bounced up and around, through alarming levels of supervisors, I landed at somebody who knew something about anything. More importantly, somebody willing to debrief me, likely in order to get on with their day. The village does not physically chalk tires, instead using ALPRs, the same technology used in Flock Cameras, which were commendably banned by the board in August of last year. The supervisor emphasized that license plate readers are not contracted from a third party but wouldn’t share whether the data is volunteered to law enforcement at the local, state, or federal levels.
The technology’s use was defended by the employee as a means of making parking more convenient for local residents impacted by construction. The irony of which was not lost on me, given I am daily awakened by jackhammering outside my window on the 100 block of South Oak Park Avenue, and now must cough up 33 dollars.
Though my main concern here is the lack of transparency from the board on this matter and their continued funding of ALPR use within our village. How long is this data stored, how safe is this means of storage from unwarranted breach, who is the data voluntarily shared with, what procedures exist to prevent rogue agencies from subpoenaing this data for infringement upon our civil liberties, and what percentage of these tickets are issued to villagers the rules are allegedly intended to assist?
Is the money really worth it and as the original poster asked, why now?
Aidan Sullivan
Oak Park