San Francisco’s police have expressed their concern that they would be subject to increased hostile situations and assaults for handing out parking tickets, The San Francisco Standard reported Thursday.
Trevor Adams, president of the parking control officers’ union chapter and a 17-year police veteran, told the outlet that his officers experience hostility “on a daily basis” and that they often do not “have the means to deal with” these escalatory threats.
San Francisco parking enforcers want you to know a human being is inside those funny little Interceptor ticketing mobiles—and they don’t want the new parking crackdown either. w/@allaboutgeorge https://t.co/Qqtt4xdWCo
— Gabriel Lorenzo Greschler (@ggreschler) April 25, 2024
Adams emphasized that the only items that his officers had at their disposal were “a badge and a computer to write tickets,” The San Francisco Standard reported.
Tina S., an officer with a social work degree, commented that she experienced some of that hostility, the outlet reported. “If they start yelling and screaming, I just walk away because I don’t want to escalate the situation,” the officer told The San Francisco Standard.
She told the outlet of one incident where she was attacked by two women who parked their car at a bus stop. After the officer told the women to move their car lest they incur a $400 ticket, the driver moved the car and double-parked. “So I cited the vehicle, and I got called a whole bunch of derogatory names, everything in the book,” Tina told The San Francisco Standard.
Tina claimed to have been attacked when she went back to her car. “I had my door open. I should have left the area, but I wasn’t thinking. As I was doing my notes, the girls came back. They started throwing eggs and milk all over me inside my vehicle,” Tina added. (RELATED: San Francisco Basically Stopped Enforcing Traffic Laws, Data Shows)
Tina also noted that even parking police get parking tickets at times because “[w]hen we come to work, we don’t have anywhere to park,” the outlet reported.
Workers of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) staged a protest Thursday demanding safer working conditions, ABC 7 News reported. Dozens showed up to the protest, the outlet noted.
Still other city officials fully back the new policy. SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin announced that the new intensive enforcement policy was made possible thanks to the fact that the city’s parking control team became fully staffed for the first time since the pandemic, The San Francisco Standard noted.
“In many San Francisco neighborhoods, given the scarcity of parking control officers that we have faced for several years, there are people who think that the rules don’t exist,” Tumlin said, the outlet reported. “We want to get the word out that we are finally able to start enforcing the rules,” the director added.
“Safety is our top priority at the Agency. Thanks to our efforts, crime is down 48% since 2018 within our system,” the SFMTA told the Daily Caller in a statement. “We know how hard our employees work to keep San Francisco moving, and we are committed to a fair and safe workplace for all of our employees. Our Parking Control Officers are provided de-escalation training, self defense tools, and have access to our internal dispatch center that communicates directly with [the San Francisco Police Department] SFPD for any assistance they need.”
“We will continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of all of our employees,” the SFMTA added.
The SFPD did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.