Morning Sentinel
Police target parking scofflaws at shops
By AMY CALDER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 12/19/2007

WATERVILLE -- Shoppers in a rush who illegally park in handicapped parking spaces beware: If you don't have a handicapped license plate or placard, you'll likely get ticketed.

And the fines aren't cheap.

"Fifty dollars is the minimum," police Chief Joseph Massey said Tuesday. "It could be more; it could be up to $200."

Police are cracking down on violators since receiving angry phone calls from people who are handicapped and say they cannot find parking spaces because people are using them illegally, according to Massey.

He said one man who is handicapped told him he went to a store in Waterville to shop and drove around the lot, unable to find a handicapped spot. The man said he counted 11 vehicles parked illegally in those spaces. He reported the situation to the store manager.

"It's just not fair that they're not able to come out and shop," Massey said.

He said someone also called him from a politician's office saying that office had received a call from someone wanting a national law regarding handicapped parking.

Massey said that it may be a bad time for police to become aggressive on fines and he hates to issue people tickets of $50 or more but on the other hand, handicapped spaces are marked and people should heed the signs. He said he wants to let people know police started checking parking lots Monday night and issued three or four tickets to motorists who did not have proper placards or plates displayed.

"If they don't have that and it's not being displayed, they're going to get a ticket," he said.

Massey said tickets for more than $50 may be issued if violators have received prior fines for parking illegally.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Bookmark and share this story: digg del.icio.us Reddit


Reader comments

Sort by: Oldest first | Newest First

previous page | next page1-10 of 18 comments:

RickinVa of Alexandria, VA
Dec 20, 2007 7:17 AM
Reader: Police Departments are not a 'business'. They are public servants paid by the taxpayers.report abuse
Mike Finley of N. Vassalboro, ME
Dec 19, 2007 8:26 PM
" no state shall issue special rights or privledges"......That pesky constitution again!report abuse
reader of Portland-Boston, ME
Dec 19, 2007 5:47 PM
"ex Mainer of Fort Lauderdale, FL
There are more important issues for the Police to do, than to go running around and be worried about parked cars"

"0-Tolerance of Central Maine,That policy sounds somewhat good, but then we'd be driving around the parking lots vs. trying to locate OUI's and other violations..."


---Exactly. Often times the illegal parked drivers are the ones that are drunk,the drug runner,you-name it.

Take the town of Brookline,Massachusetts, surrounded 3/4 by extremely high crime areas,yet Brookline is a safe community to live in. Why? The drunks,the drug dealers,the criminals know the reputation of Brookline,Ma.'s police officers. Brookline officers spent their whole day stopping vehicles one after another for everything and anything. The criminals and general traffic violators know to STAY OUT of Brookline.report abuse
reader of Portland-Boston, ME
Dec 19, 2007 5:37 PM
"RickinVa of Alexandria, VA..It would never work down here. It'd be looked upon as somewhat of a bribe; i.e., 'we'll give you extra days off if you do what we pay you to do . .' I can hear the uproar now in the papers if something like this were allowed to happen"


--Most PDs that give their officers a day off after writing so many tickets...DONT tell the public about the policy. Quota's? Every business has quotas from factory worker to insurance salesman.report abuse
mikes of waterville, ME
Dec 19, 2007 5:18 PM
I agree ex Mainer to hell with those free loading handicapped people. Make them walk, or crawl to the stores.report abuse
ex Mainer of Fort Lauderdale, FL
Dec 19, 2007 12:42 PM
There are more important issues for the Police to do, than to go running around and be worried about parked cars!

Ticketing cars! YA! just another way of driving away people from the downtown!

Probably half the people in the handicapped spots are people who work there!report abuse
The Reader of Central, ME
Dec 19, 2007 11:55 AM
Perhaps for a 2 month window between November/December Waterville/Augusta/Portland/Bangor/other high traffic shopping areas in the state should hire part-time meter maids whose only job is to patrol and hand out tickets. Their salary would easily be paid by the law-breaking offenders (say $5-10 on every ticket written... it adds up quite nicely).report abuse
0-Tolerance of Central Maine, ME
Dec 19, 2007 9:16 AM
One more thing....I know most of the vehicles that park in handicapped parking spots are handicapped operators. But, some of those vehicles have handicapped operators, they just don't dispaly the hadicapped placard/sign. I was off duty and parking in a Rite-Aide parking lot when I observed a vehicle parking in a handicapped parking spot that didn't have any handicapped placards/signs/registratino plates, etc. I confronted the operator as he got out of his vehicle. He then thanked me for confronting him, and being concerned about the handicapped parking spot and he then retrieved his handicapped placard out of his glove box and properly displayed it.report abuse
0-Tolerance of Central Maine, ME
Dec 19, 2007 9:12 AM
reader of Portland-Boston, ME,

That policy sounds somewhat good, but then we'd be driving around the parking lots vs. trying to locate OUI's and other violations. The best thing I can say to the violators, don't park where your not suppose to, and for the disabled driver's, if you see a vehicle parked in a disabled parking spot, call the police.report abuse
RickinVa of Alexandria, VA
Dec 19, 2007 8:59 AM
It would never work down here. It'd be looked upon as somewhat of a bribe; i.e., 'we'll give you extra days off if you do what we pay you to do . .' I can hear the uproar now in the papers if something like this were allowed to happen.report abuse

previous page | next page

You must be a registered user of MaineToday.com to post a comment. Register or log in.