Parking Enforcement Officers keep watch

ALBANY, Ga. — A careless driver parking in downtown can bet on having a souvenir to take home.

That souvenir parking ticket can cost anywhere from $15 to $100 for the careless driver parked over the two-hour limit, in front of a driveway or in violation of other parking regulations, according to an Albany Police Department official.

Sam Carter and Mary Price are the parking enforcement officers that scurry around on green golf-cart-like vehicles downtown netting the city $62,475 in paid fines last year.

From Jan 1 to June 30 the takes sits at $27,035, according to information from Municipal Court officials.

“They average 50 to 60 tickets a week,” said Phyllis Banks, police spokeswoman.

“The exact amount of revenue generated would depend on if the tickets were paid or not paid through Municipal Court. Some violators appear in court and the judge determines if they will pay or not.”

The parking officers are part-time, not sworn officers and paid $8.63 an hour for their 20-hour workweeks.

There are no paid holidays or vacations for parking enforcement officers.

They do not carry guns, Tasers or pepper spray.

“I’ve been cursed at a couple times, but I just let it by,” Price said. “If anyone gets out of hand I just call for backup.”

Counting her days as a crossing guard, Price has been on the job with the city for 30 years, 15 as parking enforcement.

Price said she likes the job because she gets to meet different people.People stop and ask directions, but she is careful about the directions she gives.

If anyone asks about a battered women’s shelter or other places where the staff likes to remain out of the public eye, she said, she doesn’t give directions.

“I don’t know where Liberty House is,” Price said, “and if I did I wouldn’t say. You want to know where the mall is I’ll tell you.”

When Price left her crossing guard job there were no specific uniforms for parking enforcement officers.

Her son Alphonso Carson, a 21-year veteran of the Albany Fire Department, now retired, designed the patch on her uniform.

He said if I was in uniform, an officer, we needed a patch,” Price said. “We showed it to the chief and they got it made.”

Banks said the area patrolled by the parking enforcement officers is mostly the 100 to 300 blocks of West Broad Avenue, Pine Avenue, Washington Street, Jackson Street, Hall Street and around the Albany-Dougherty Judicial Building.

That is the area where Price and her partner can be seen marking tires to tell how long a vehicle has been parked.

“We go around about every hour to mark tires,” Price said. “I have a notebook of where I marked and I watch the time.”