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Meter Maids

560 views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  pickpocket293 
#1 ·
OK so I work in a shopping center and there is a Parking Maid or something, I don't know what she is. She has a little 2 seater smart car with the city Police logo in it. She runs around non stop looking to write people tickets. Its almost on the level of harassment.

Since this parking lot and shopping center are privately owned I was wondering if she has any actual jurisdiction to do it. I can understand her writing tickets for people parked on the public street, or people in the court house parking lot or ANY road that is owned and maintained by the government, but not here where I work. Sometimes we have to have people park up next to the curb to get them loaded up if our back dock is occupied.

any ideas?
 
#2 ·
all I know is I got a ticket in a parking lot before and couldn't get out of it. even though there are posted signs that says it' a privately owned area. apparently you can get a ticket anywhere.
I went too fast over a speed bump.

but get this, my buddy got backed into at a parking lot and the cops told him they have no jurisdiction in a private parking lot. and he needs to settle it with his insurance.
 
#8 ·
Same in VA. By law parking tickets can be written on properties open to the public such as shopping centers. Private residential areas need to request LE to enforce laws on their property and most do, at least where I'm retired from. As far as pvt property and police traffic matters. We could only cite for reckless driving, hit and run and DUI. Things like stop signs in shopping centers are not enforcable. (Speaking for VA only)
 
#13 ·
This is the situation in my condo complex. The management gave police the right for police to enforce laws in the parking lot. I think I recall that includes expired tags, which annoys me a little bit because usually the only place people can park their car is in the main parking area and not in a garage. Though maybe police don't enforce it if they are parked in a reserved spot instead of a visitor spot. I also didn't hear that directly from an LEO so maybe it was just a rumor.


Haha sorry I mistyped, DUI you can be arrested for anywhere, even in your driveway, but other criminal MV charges only apply on private property if there are 10 or more cars.

So as long as you're sober, feel free to find an empty lot and wreck some tires on shenanigans.
Can an officer write a ticket for something if a private owner in that parking lot complains, and there are only five cars? Or if it's under 10 you simply can't give an MV ticket even if an owner complains?
 
#14 ·
Can an officer write a ticket for something if a private owner in that parking lot complains, and there are only five cars? Or if it's under 10 you simply can't give an MV ticket even if an owner complains?
Everything varies by state, I used to be a cop in Arizona too, and there we did not have the silly 10 car rule, we could write only write criminal MV offenses or infractions if they occurred on the public roadway, except for hit and run and DUI. And we could only write handicap tickets if the handicap sign there had the state statute number posted on it.

What would the owner of the lot be complaining about? people speeding through their lot? there is no speed limit specified by the government so speeding doesn't apply, also traffic laws don't apply because there are no defined lanes or official control devices. The only thing they can ask us to enforce is trespassing if we see someone in their lot after hours when it is supposed to be vacant. They can also ask us to tag abandoned vehicles in their lot so we can eventually have them towed after 48 hours, but they are free to call a tow company and have it towed themselves right away if they want so we don't get that too often.

If it is during the day and the lot is occupied by a bunch of vehicles and peoples, and someone is being an asshole, then the 10 car rules applies and we can pinch for reckless. Somebody being reckless in an empty lot at 1am isn't really all that reckless.

As for the people posting in here that cops are enforcing parking rules on apartment complexes, that's pretty crazy IMO, I do n't know what department has spare cops to be assigning them to do jobs that Tow companies or security guards should be getting paid by those complexes to do.
 
#3 ·
I'd love to see the law that places a speed limit going over a speed bump

Was there a sign stating the speed?

Private lot stop signs are only legally binding if the owner has authorized the police. I did ask a cop about this a couple months ago


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#4 ·
,,,
Private lot stop signs are only legally binding if the owner has authorized the police. I did ask a cop about this a couple months ago
,,
I think that's the requirement. The property owner has to ask the police to enforce their signage. And of course, in certain areas, the police are more than willing to rake in some cash but when it actually comes to helping people, such as writing up an accident report they have no authority.
 
#6 ·
Unless the parking lot has limited access (gated access like a private community or country club) its open to Leo jurisdiction. There are only a few law leo and enforce in a pva. One of them is going to fast for conditions which is not a number but up to the officers discretion.

This is also nc law and im sure it varies by state.

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#9 ·
Here in CT the only things we can issue tickets for in parking lots are handicap and fire lane violations. We can make arrests for criminal things like reckless, DUI etc... but only if there are 10 or more cars in the lot at that time.

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#11 ·
Years ago a guy hit me in a parking lot and took off. I chased him while on the phone to 911 and gave them the tag #. They told me to go to a local station and fill out a report. The cop there told me since it was a parking lot they couldn't do anything. I never did understand that. I wanted to go play crash up derby after leaving.
 
#16 ·
Less than 10 cars and it doesn't apply, the statute doesn't specify a time of day.

As for what may going on at your complex here's an idea. Many apartment and condo complexes offer cops reduced rent if they agree to act as complex security, I have many friends who have done that to help pay the bills. So it may be a cop issuing HOA tickets for the complex while he is acting as a security guard. Ask your HOA or landlord, it's never been a secret when guys I know have done it. Contrary to popular belief the beat cop doesn't make piles of money, I had a roommate I shared a one bedroom apartment with for a year so any extra bit we could get helped.

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#17 ·
It was in a letter from the HOA that said that the HOA board/managment gave police permission to issue tickets and patrol within the complex as if they are on a public street. Whether or not they could ticket someone for expired tags, even if they are in a private parking spot, was just a rumor based on that. It didn't mention anything about cops acting as security, though that could happening. I know after a small wave vandalism they had a uniformed officer in a marked car around, but that's the only time I've seen police used as additional security.
 
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