Today at about 9:00am I was awakened by a police officer knocking on my door. As this doesn't happen very often, I was rather surprised (and annoyed). The officer informed me that my car, which was parked on the side of the road in front of my house, had been ticketed, and that I would need to move it to my driveway. I asked him why it had been ticketed, and he said that I'm not allowed to park it on that side of the street. This was news to me. I've lived in this house for at least 8 years, and we have quite frequently parked vehicles there without incident. One year we had a car that was the subject of a hit and run (some one hit it and then drove away), and we had the police come when we filed a report, and we weren't informed of our illegal parking then either. So, I told him that I had no knowledge of this, as there are no signs indicating that it is illegal to park on this side of the road. He told me that it is in the town ordinance, and promptly left.
Now, I usually don't have any problems with police. I don't bother them, and they don't bother me, but I feel as though I was unjustly ticketed here. I know that it's just $10.00, but it's the principal of it. Police shouldn't be able to harass people like this. (maybe harass is to strong of a word, but it is how I feel). After a quick shower and breakfast I decided to try and find out about my town ordinances online. I didn't expect to have much luck, because my town is quite small and technologically inept, just like my state. I was surprised when a quick google search yeilded my town ordinances as the first results. Here is what I found:
Sec. 11-1 Parking prohibited at all times on certain streets.
SCHEDULE I
When signs are erected giving notice thereof no person shall at any time park a vehicle upon any of the following described streets or parts of streets:
[...]
No parking on the easterly side of Pine Street.
[...]
At first I was rather shocked. It was true, I'm really not allowed to park on my side of the street. Then I reread it a little bit closer and noticed that it said When signs are erected this is true. Since no signs are erected on my street, I should be able to park there until said signs are erected. Furthermore, according to this town ordinance, I was not illegally parked, and should not be subject to this ticket. I think that the officer was low on his quota and just decided to go around and ticket a bunch of cars to make up for it. I don't plan on paying the ticket, and I plan on going to the town office to see what I can do about it. Two other cars on my street got ticketed at the same time, and I'm pretty sure that the people will just pay their tickets. I don't think this type of thing should be tolerated. The police in this town have too much power, and something needs to be done about it.
