Thursday, Jun 13, 2024 5:00 AMUpdated Thursday, Jun. 13, 2024 12:21 PM
Police chief: Officers apply ‘common sense’ when deciding whether to issue tickets
A city of Durango vehicle belonging to the Information Services Division was parked facing the wrong direction Sunday on East Second Avenue. Instead of issuing a ticket, the parking division left an empty yellow envelope on the windshield. (Courtesy of the city of Durango)
A city of Durango vehicle belonging to the Information Services Division was parked facing the wrong direction Sunday on East Second Avenue. Instead of issuing a ticket, the parking division left an empty yellow envelope on the windshield. (Courtesy of the city of Durango)
When a battery died Sunday in a city vehicle, one of those all too recognizable yellow envelopes appeared under the driver’s windshield wiper.
The vehicle had been backed into a parking space outside the Carnegie Building at 1188 East Second Ave., which is home to the city’s parking division. It is illegal to park facing the wrong direction.
The yellow envelopes issued by city’s parking division often contain citations. This envelope, however, happened to be empty.
No ticket was issued.
The city tries to be reasonable when it comes to addressing parking violations, said city spokesman Tom Sluis.
Sluis summarized the ordeal on the city’s Facebook page Sunday.
A warning of sorts: A yellow envelope, which typically contains a parking ticket, was left on this city of Durango vehicle Sunday. The vehicle was parked facing the wrong direction, which is illegal. (Courtesy of the city of Durango)
A warning of sorts: A yellow envelope, which typically contains a parking ticket, was left on this city of Durango vehicle Sunday. The vehicle was parked facing the wrong direction, which is illegal. (Courtesy of the city of Durango)
The post says Mayor Jessika Buell noticed the city vehicle parked backward and asked city staff members why the vehicle was parked illegally.
Sluis said it is not a great look for the city when employees skirt parking rules.
He said city employees have absolutely violated parking and traffic laws and received tickets in the past, which he discussed with former Durango Police Department Chief Bob Brammer.
Employees are on the hook for paying for tickets they receive, he added.
“It’s just bad public perception when you see a city vehicle going through a stop sign or whatever,” he said.
In this case, the vehicle battery was dead and the employee forgot to leave a note explaining the situation. Still, the vehicle shouldn’t have been parked backward in the space.
The city’s Facebook post resulted in dozens of responses from community members. Most comments said city employees should be held to the same standards as everyone else.
“City vehicles should not be exempt,” one user, Cory Thomason, wrote. “Write the ticket and whoever was driving it should pay the ticket out of their own pocket.”
“No one is above the Law,” another user, Elizabeth Craig, said.
Other comments asked why backing into spaces is against the law and argued it is safer to unload a vehicle backed into a diagonal parking space.
City departments such as the parking division and Durango Police Department wield discretion when deciding whether to issue citations. The city tries to work with people, not against them, said Police Chief Brice Current.
He said officers will write tickets if that is the best way to deter rulebreakers, but if they can accomplish deterrence without issuing tickets, they’ll take that route.
When a city vehicle’s battery died on Sunday, an employee of the Durango information technology department found themselves with an immobile van and an all too recognizable yellow envelope placed under the windshield wiper. (Courtesy of the city of Durango)
When a city vehicle’s battery died on Sunday, an employee of the Durango information technology department found themselves with an immobile van and an all too recognizable yellow envelope placed under the windshield wiper. (Courtesy of the city of Durango)
“Just about everybody I know, from friends and family, have gotten parking tickets here in Durango either from having too long of a truck bed or not parking (within the) lines,” he said. “... And we deal with it just like anything else, anybody else.”
Current said residents have even reported police service technicians parked in the alley behind the police department at 990 East Second Ave. Sometimes, officers park in the alley to unload bikes or evidence, and while they try to stay out of the way of through traffic, they aren’t always successful.
When it comes to parking in alleyways, as long as trash collectors can access dumpsters and traffic can pass through the alley, the police department tends to leave parked vehicles alone, he said.
“A lot of people will park to unload stuff at Goodwill, and you may find an officer helping them pick things up and deliver them instead of giving them a warning about parking,” he said.
The city prefers a “common sense” approach to handling parking violations, he said. Officers will generally give out warnings before tickets.
Wade Moore, Durango parking operations manager, said if someone arrives at their vehicle at the time an officer is writing a ticket for an expired parking meter, for example, the ticket is voided and no fine is issued.
“We try to use the least restrictive measure,” Current said.
Sometimes it is hard to judge whether a verbal warning will be as effective a deterrent as a citation, he said.
Sluis said the city is producing an educational video to visually demonstrate how backing into parking spaces is less safe than parking front-end first.
cburney@durangoherald.com
