‘Issuing parking tickets not efficient use of police time,’ says senior Fenland police officer
A police inspector has said issuing parking tickets all day every day is “not an efficient use of police time”.
Inspector Michael Basford said they need to prioritise the work officers do, but said they do what they can to tackle illegal parking.
The issue was addressed at a Fenland District Council meeting today after Cllr Brenda Barber said “people are getting angry” about problem parking in the district’s towns, and asked if police officers could issue more tickets.
Inspector Basford said they do issue tickets to people breaking parking restrictions, but said they have to prioritise what work they do.
He said: “We could spend all day every day giving out parking tickets, [but] it is not an efficient use of police time.
“I long for the day when civil parking enforcement is introduced in Fenland. I know that is some way off, but I do not think that the police response to parking is efficient; it is not a deterrent.
“We simply cannot afford to give it the time; we do what we can when we can, but I think it doesn’t really deter people from illegal parking.”
Civil parking enforcement is where illegal parking is decriminalised, allowing parking restrictions, such as parking on double yellow lines, to be enforced by councils.
Introducing civil parking enforcement in Fenland was one of the things included within the district council’s list of projects it wants to push forward with ahead of local government reorganisation.
Cllr Barber said she understood police needed to prioritise what work they do, but said she disagreed that officers spending more time ticketing cars would not be a deterrent.
Inspector Basford stressed that officers do spend some time issuing tickets, but said people still park where they are not meant to.
He said illegal parking had been an issue they had been trying to address for around 20 years and said he did not think police officers issuing tickets was “particularly effective”.
Cllr Gavin Booth said he agreed with Inspector Basford on this point, as he said he was aware of cases where people had been issued with tickets for parking in a restricted area outside a school, only to continue parking there in the future.
He said: “It is not as effective as some people think, some people are willing to pay the fine. However if we do have more police around and about might make people think twice.”
Inspector Basford confirmed at the meeting that the Fenland area would be getting more officers to show an increased police presence in the area.
He explained that the neighbourhood policing team had been given more resources and that they will be appointing 36 new officers to the team, which he said also covered Peterborough.
