By-law officers have new high-tech tool

Parking progress
Web posted on Monday, 29 June 2009 CHBC VIDEO

Kelowna traffic bylaw officers trade in their chalk for a high tech tools to catch parking violators.

Wayne Moore - Jun 29, 2009 CASTANET:
It's not a cash grab, it's a more efficient way of doing the job. That's how City Clerk, Stephen Fleming describes a new state-of-the art licenser plate recognition device. The new electronic system, which has been attached to one city by-law vehicle, was on display in front of City Hall Monday. "The device enables the officer to take a picture of the vehicle and match it to a GPS system so we know where it is, for things like enforcement of time restricted parking, resident only parking," says Fleming. "There's a series of cameras located on the roof or on the trunk that take photographs of vehicles which will pinpoint their location and the time." Fleming says in a two hour time restricted area, the system would know exactly which vehicles remained beyond the two hour limit. "This replaces the manual chalking system. Besides having to do that manually, it was not very effective when it was raining or wet or in the winter." He says it could even be used at night. Fleming says there is also an option built into the system which would allow the RCMP to download the list of stolen vehicles.

"If the system detects one, the screen goes off and we can notify the RCMP to deal with it." Cameras mounted on the vehicle take pictures of the license plate, tires as well as the front of the vehicle, which, coupled with GPS tracking, can tell where the vehicle is and if it has been in that location longer that it should have been. Fleming says the new system should allow by-law officers to cover a larger area in a shorter period of time. City Council approved the new device during its last budget deliberations. The total budget allotment was $75,000. The license plate recognition device is now in use. Fleming says manual chalking ended last Friday.