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TOPICS: white truck, parking tickets, parking enforcement
Virginia Tech parking enforcement officers have been called a lot of things over the years, and it's no secret that many students regard them with a certain dread the minute they spot those flashing yellow lights heading for their vehicles.
"For lack of a better term: Nazis," said Kyle Urban, a sophomore industrial design major, about their reputation. "With those little white Chevys they drive around with their blinking lights. They're just strict, and Virginia Tech has this no tolerance policy."
Urban is one of the many who have felt the wrath of Parking Services when he mistakenly parked his car in a Surge faculty space last year.
"Lo and behold," Urban said, "five minutes after I parked there, I go outside and there's a ticket on my window. Honestly, they're on the ball. They're right there, there's no chance of you getting away with anything."
But, believe it or not, Virginia Tech Parking Enforcement Officer Todd Miller isn't so bad. In fact, he's a pretty nice guy with a good sense of humor.
"We have two kids," he joked cheerfully with me about his home life last Friday while doing his rounds in a white flatbed Silverado. "(And) a 7-year-old lab and a 5-month-old mutt puppy."
Miller, a retired police officer of seven years, has been working as a parking enforcement officer for the last four.
The Christiansburg native and weekend fly fisherman reports every weekday to the Parking Services building at 8 a.m., ready to begin inspection of one of five zones that he could be assigned to cover on campus.
Wearing a blue jacket with a single white stripe streaking across it, a corresponding hat that's emblazoned with "VT Parking Enforcement," beige slacks and sunglasses, Miller meticulously scours the lots that he has been assigned to for any parking violations.
Some of what he is looking for is obvious, such as parking in a restricted spot without a pass.
Other violations take a more careful inspection such as figuring out whether a pass is registered to the vehicle that is using it.
While cruising, his handheld radio chatters, and occasionally he receives a call to help assist in things such as jumpstarting someone's car or helping someone who has locked his keys inside a vehicle.
By the time I catch up to him it is 1:30 p.m., and the beginning of his second round of inspections.
On this particularly windy Friday, he has been assigned to rove the campus rather than cover a zone. His path is a snaking circle that begins with inspection of the Cage and travels all around until he finds himself staring at meters in the Squires parking lot, having made several stops in between.
Mostly, his procedure is the same. With every suspect vehicle, he gets out of his truck and with the help of his yellow T2 Recon, a handheld wireless electronic device, he looks up the vehicle's tags and description among other identifying facts.
Should he need to write a citation, it prints out of a small portable machine attached to the side of his left hip.
The citation itself is printed out on a surface that presents much difficulty for any angry recipient trying to make a point by ripping it up. It is virtually impossible to tear apart.
Occasionally, however, there are those lucky few who manage to escape the penalties of the $25 to $110 fines. Their luck has everything to do with timing.
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BS. Outside hokie grill, I recieved a ticket to parking in a lined spot. The lines were so faded you couldnt even see them. To make it worse, the parking officer was standing RIGHT in front of me when I parked there, and said NOTHING. Came out 5min later, and had a ticket. If they really aren't out simply to make money, why not take 5seconds and tell me I can't park there...instead of waiting til I walk away and then give a ticket
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Im convinced Tech hires former CIA agents for parking services. My car would be out of my sight maybe a couple minutes and BAM, that damn orange envelope would be on my winshield awaiting my return, sneaky bastards. As much as I despised them, they are good at what they do.
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I managed to park on campus for 4 years without ever receiving a ticket or getting towed. How? I only parked in Commuter spots with a Commuter tag, and never left my vehicle on campus when it snowed. This isn't brain surgery, and they aren't predatory like Valley Towing.
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I have to agree with the last post - parking services are irritating but at least they aren't Valley Towing who in my opinion should be charged with stealing cars half the time.
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Playa, why didn't YOU just simply ask the parking service attendant if it was ok to park where you did? It is just as much YOUR responsibility to park in the correct location as they are to enforce it. Aren't spots behind HokieGrill F/S or Service spots anyway?
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I totally agree with playa, and the jerk wrote me a ticket and my hood was still hot when i came out and got it. i was inside oak lane dropping something off for 3 minutes, and the parking lot was empty--not to mention that signage sucks out there.
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I disagree with the part about hiding in the bushes....I think they do that.....
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Here is a interview: "’why you don’t give all the students a map showing where is ok for parking?’ A gentleman at parking service, “ it is the student responsibility to find out online where is suppose parking." "When the policemen try to regular the speed on the road, they used to put speed limit by side and give forgiveness to some first offender, because their main purpose is to educate people for safety. It is hard to image, there is no speed limit on the road, and policemen ask people to go to their website to download the speed limit for each road." The gentleman at parking service, "Are you coming here to make trouble?"
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Aww, the mean-old Parking Services guy is just a nice little grandpa! How sweet!
That's the problem with the bureacracy...sure, each link is just a simple man/woman, doing their job. But who takes responsibility for systematic problems? Not anyone the students ever get to talk to.
I stopped in Owens lot to drop stuff at my dorm, was back in 5 minutes..BAM, 2 tickets!
I forgot to put my parking pass up when I parked in the Cage for the week. I did not know it wasn't up. I get an email late on tuesday that it is parked wrong or something, and when I go to check on it Wednesday morning, I have 2 tickets! They knew I was registered with a parking pass, in the correct spot, but that my pass was on my dashboard instead of the mirror, and they have the audacity to give me $70 in tickets! There is no reason for residents to go to their car on a daily basis, the only way I could know was via the email, but they don't even give me a reasonable amount of time to go fix it.
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I was parked in an empty area of McComas lot while I bought a pass from Student Services...BAM ticket!
I parked in the stadium lot at the beginning of the school year, clearly with the intention to buy a pass, and I parked in an empty area so I wasn't taking a spot from someon who already got their pass. I bought the pass on monday, but monday morning: BAM, ticket!
All of these situations have been explained to PS in an appeal, but I get the same response every time: "You were found to be in violoation of our policy."
I hate parking services with a passion.
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