Well, not exactly. Here’s the deal:
A Canadian app creator has a new one where you can take a picture of a person parking illegally in a disabled parking space and send it to the local authorities. They will then dispatch an officer to write a ticket and if the ticket is valid and paid, you will receive a piece of the action, either in your bank account of too your favorite charity. Read about it here.
An outfit in Texas that cuts deals with cities to provide this service, uses trained volunteers and no reward. “This smacks of vigilantism” they say. I sort of agree.
I have written before about the concept of snapping a picture on your smart phone and sending it to the cops. I rather like that idea. Many people get incensed when they see an SUV with a surfboard on the roof and a bike strapped to the rear park in a disabled spot so the driver can go to the gym. Hey — snap the pix, call the cops.
The idea of getting paid for it seems to me to be taking the concept a tad too far. I can see people making a living out of taking pictures, enforcement staff running around helter skelter checking out possible violators, and then the “boy who cried wolf” syndrome kicking in and enforcement just ignoring all the pictures they receive.
However, if a person does this out of their civic duty, then great.
OK, all you municipal enforcement managers out there, what do you think?
JVH
