Meter-Made
Toronto, ON
Female, 30
I currently work as a Parking Enforcement Officer in the wonderful city of Toronto. I am feared, and loathed by all. I may not work in your particular city, but I'm positive that I can help give you a better understanding of what Meter Maids do. I am knowledgeable in all parking matters so ask me anything.
Most of the time people jokingly offer to give me something to make their ticket go away, but there have been a few instances where people attempted to bribe me. The most common one would be to offer me money, sometimes more than what the ticket is worth. I have also been offered food and drinks (including a 6 pack of beer). When people start to haggle with me, I usually walk away to avoid this type of situation altogether.
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It's hard for me to answer this without knowing the facts and circumstances. Specific situations require different forms of action.
There are rules that govern our job, but some vehicles may be towed over others depending on what offence they are committing. This doesn't mean that the officer is being selective on what they are towing, but maybe the second vehicle you mentioned was committing an offence that allowed for immediate towing. This can include no stopping, no standing, and even areas that block peoples driveways.
I wouldn't say that she is executing the law differently, but maybe the rules that we follow didn't allow her to tow the first vehicle. This is because we need to have three tickets on a vehicle from three different days in order to tow it. Maybe the second car had three tickets on it which warranted her to tow the vehicle.
Without the facts I am just giving hypothetical answers. If you feel strongly about this and you live on that particular street, you can call in and get more information from our office.
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Parking infractions aren't important enough to have someone arrested...at least they aren't in Toronto. Parking tickets only affect an individual when they are looking to sell their vehicle, or to renew their plates. In order to get their plates renewed they must pay off their outstanding parking fines. Every time a parking officer types the license plate of a vehicle into their handheld device, they are able to see how many outstanding tickets and unpaid fines an individual has, and I have seen many individuals with hundreds of unpaid fines. In theory, when people have an unpaid ticket the city will look to a collection agency to get their money. I don't actually think this is actually in practice, as many people just continue to rack up parking tickets and avoid renewing their plates for as long as possible (AKA when they are fined by a police officer). I have heard of other cities that have a booting system in place, in order to have people pay their fines more diligently. Their car will remained booted until the city receives full payment of unpaid tickets.
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People assume that we wait around for meters/receipts to expire, but in reality we don't have that much time on our hands. If I am doing a loop of a street and I remember that a certain car is about to expire I may go back to it on my way back to my car, but I don't just sit at a car and wait to ticket it. In the city of Toronto we give a five minute grace period for expired receipts. There has recently been some talk of extending it to ten minutes, but I think that is just overkill. If people know they may need some extra time they should be parking in parking lots with a flat rate, and leaving the street parking for people who need a spot to quickly go about their business. As for your question about quotas...I answered this earlier this year. We don't have quotas in Toronto, but we do have a performance standard that we have to attain. The city has calculated the average ticket number in every area in the city, and officers assigned to these zones should be getting roughly the same amount as their counterparts on different shifts.
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As long as the meter has been paid you are legally parked, at least that is the case in Toronto. The city has a three hour maximum at meters which mainly means that you can only pay for blocks of three hours at a time. This means as long as you continue to pay you are legally parked.
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Yes, a ticket can be issued to someone while they are in their car. Our unit policy, however is to first ask them to move. If they do not comply then we can issue the ticket. Asking them to move is not mandatory, but we do it to be nice, as some people don't realize that they are parked illegally. Most people are happy to oblige, but those who refuse to listen can still get a ticket.
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It's hard to recall the nicest thing someone has ever said to me, but I have had several encounters with individuals who have brightened my day. Most of the time it's just someone asking if I'm cold and would like something warm to drink. Or someone giving me words of encouragement. I've also had times where a passerby will stop to make sure I'm okay when a disgruntled individual I have ticketed is raising their voice with me. There is one individual who stands out to me as well. A particular business owner I see on a regular basis always watches to make sure that no one gives me a hard time when I am approached on his particular street. He is always friendly and makes sure I have enough water on a hot day, or invites me inside if I need to warm up on a frigid day. It's people like this that actually make my job more meaningful.
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