Crime & Safety
Los Gatos Police Beef Up Parking Enforcement With New Technology
Two-week trial period ends Sunday, Jan. 5. Next week, citations will be valid and over-parked cars will be ticketed, police warn.
The Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Department has begun using the AutoVu parking management system from public safety company Genetec to enforce parking restrictions in town.
The system is comprised of vehicle mounted cameras, GPS technology and a laptop computer installed on an existing parking control vehicle called a "Go-4," the department said in a news release.
A two-week trial period to test the system began Dec. 23 and ends Sunday, Jan. 5.
During the trial period, parking violators have been receiving only courtesy notices and parking enforcement officers have continued tire chalking, the old way of determining which motorists in town had exceeded their parking limit restrictions.
The system integrates license plate recognition with global positioning technologies to automate parking enforcement, police said.
Tire chalking in the downtown commercial business district will no longer be required in the future, the release stated.
AutoVu will be downloaded with a current "hot list" of vehicles that have five or more outstanding parking violations and the license plate numbers of stolen vehicles in the state's stolen vehicle and license plate system, according to police.
Data gathered through routine parking enforcement will also be used for investigative purposes if needed by law enforcement agencies, the release said.
The system can read and digitally store license plate information, vehicle images and obtain vehicle location information via GPS positioning.
Los Gatos Monte Sereno police Sgt. J.R. Langer said the new system cost the town more than $76,000 paid with equipment replacement funds approved by the Los Gatos Town Council May 17, 2013.
The AutoVu system can be utilized in all weather conditions and it is safer to operate than tire chalking, Langer noted.
Generally, for safety and mobility reasons, parking control officers have chosen to conduct tire chalking on foot, Langer said.
"This means that enforcement can only occur at the walking speed of a particular officer. This also means that officers are not able to provide consistent enforcement," Langer told Los Gatos Patch.
A review of the digital images stored by the system will assist in determining the validity of citations issued if there is an appeal, he said.
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