CMU Police handed out 1,400 parking tickets last week

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New and returning CMU students were excited for a few things upon their arrival to Mount Pleasant.

A parking ticket was not one of them.

Still, Central Michigan University Police handed out an estimated 1,400 on-campus parking citations during the first week of classes, according to statistics compiled by the CMU Police Department’s Parking Services division.

That number has become fairly typical at this time of the year, said CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley.

“At the beginning of the year, there’s a number of people who just park in lots that they’re not permitted to,” he said.

According to a 2008-09 CMU Parking Services annual report, 28,833 parking citations were issued, translating to $679,866 in total revenue. Over the last 10 years, Parking Services issued an average of 35,616 tickets per academic year and gained $701,585 in average revenue.

Reasons for issuing tickets vary, but the most common violation involves parked vehicles not having a permit, said Kim Roshak, manager of Parking Services.

Last week, 755 of the 1,400 parking violations were because of people parking where they are not permitted to, Roshak said.

In addition, 450 involved vehicles being parked at an expired meter. Such violations are a relatively simple to avoid, Roshak said.

“It’s whether you choose to read the information provided,” she said.

Tough to enforce

Yeagley said illegal parking can be difficult to accurately enforce because the owner of the car is rarely present.

“We don’t know how long your car has been there, we don’t know if it’s on purpose or by accident — there’s nobody to interact with,” he said. “We simply do the enforcement in almost a black-and-white fashion when there’s nobody to talk to.”

Yeagley said when the driver is near their vehicle, it usually gives the officer some flexibility on whether or not to issue the ticket.

The back-in parking spots on Ojibway Court also have been a topic of debate at the start of the year, and Yeagley said time will tell if the parking spots make sense or not.

“Let’s see how it works … I’m not a proponent or an opponent,” he said. “These consultants are saying that this is better.”