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Richard Piatt ReportingYou can beg, plead even get angry. But starting very soon, it's going to be harder to get out of a parking ticket in Salt Lake City.
That's because technology inside a ball point pen is getting better.
Part of parking enforcement will never change: patrolling the streets for vehicles parked in the wrong spot. Right now, tickets in Salt Lake City aren't really 'written'. Info is entered on a hand held computer.
"I've had the information in there. It takes a little bit longer. The new system, you just write it and go."
But very soon, the new system will bring the city back to the future. Tickets will once again get written on paper. But the pen they'll be using is a computer, constantly transmitting information via cell phone, picked up with a mini camera.
Gary Griffiths, SLC Compliance Division Manager: "It has a real time date stamp, time stamp and GPS coordinate of where the violation occured. So it's more information for the court system to render a decision."
That means it will probably be harder to make excuses and get out of a ticket. That could make the 150-thousnd dollar system--developed by a Sandy company called Velosum--an investment that could pay off.
Here's an example of how the system will back up the compliance officer. Let's say you park next to a fire hydrant. You get a ticket and try to get out of it. Parking enforcement will have taken a picture of the scene and and transmit it to the court house, where it would become part of the permanent court record.
A picture and all the rest are transmitted to the court in three seconds. That means you can pay sooner, if you want to. But beating the ticket may take a personal touch ahead of time.
Jestien Quinney, SLC Parking Enforcement: "Sometimes they really don't read the sign and I just take it on, just depends how they respect me, and I respect them, so..."
The new system is really paper, acting like a computer, thanks to the latest technology. It merely changes--but doesn't eliminate--the human aspect of the job.
Other cities are also planning on investing in this parking enforcement technology. Salt Lake City will start using its system in the next couple of weeks.
