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Parking Enforcement Workers

Patrol assigned area, such as public parking lot or city streets to issue tickets to overtime parking violators and illegally parked vehicles.

What you’d do

  • Enter and retrieve information pertaining to vehicle registration, identification, and status, using hand-held computers.
  • Maintain close communications with dispatching personnel, using two-way radios or cell phones.
  • Patrol an assigned area by vehicle or on foot to ensure public compliance with existing parking ordinance.
  • Identify vehicles in violation of parking codes, checking with dispatchers when necessary to confirm identities or to determine whether vehicles need to be booted or towed.
  • Write warnings and citations for illegally parked vehicles.
  • Appear in court at hearings regarding contested traffic citations.
  • Maintain assigned equipment and supplies, such as hand-held citation computers, citation books, rain gear, tire-marking chalk, and street cones.
  • Respond to and make radio dispatch calls regarding parking violations and complaints.

Skills that matter

  • Monitoring
  • Speaking
  • Active Listening
  • Critical Thinking
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Time Management

How to get there

Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

Also called

  • Parking Control Officer
  • Parking Enforcement Officer (PEO)
  • Parking Enforcer
  • Ticket Writer
  • Meter Maid
  • Parking Enforcement Technician (Parking Enforcement Tech)

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