Police Consider "Car Boots" to Curb Unpaid Tickets

A new warning for people who have a lot of unpaid parking tickets.

Springfield City Council is looking at a new program that will stop some motorists from using their vehicles.

Springfield Police may already have you on a list to get the "boot."

It's a mechanical device the Springfield Police Department wants to use on cars that are owned by repeated parking violators in the hopes of forcing them to pay up.

"We would expect that everyone who gets a parking ticket would either pay it or go through the court and exercise their rights to appeal," said Chief Lynn Rowe. "But upon the second violation you could be eligible for the boot."

The boot attaches to one of the wheels of a vehicle and prevents the car from moving anywhere until an officer unlocks the device.

"I think probably they just think because it's a parking ticket its not a big of a deal but they do catch up with you," said driver Mallory McWilliams.

McWilliams pays close attention to every parking sign and tries to avoid getting a traffic violation.

"I'm not sure," she said. "It'll make much of a difference at all if people are getting tickets and not paying them they are probably liable just to leave their cars around and they may create even more of a problem."

The boots are portable and can be carried in the truck of a squad car.  Springfield driver Catherine Gilpin drives her car everywhere and says the boots will get people's attention.

"I guess a huge amount of debt you probably need to have some consequences but it all depends on your definition of huge," Gilpin said.

"If they have $3,000 outstanding in parking tickets, why don't you just tow them and let somebody else have the parking spot but if its somebody that's just a little late on a parking ticket it seems a little extreme and you don't get to use their parking space anyway."

The boot will have a $50 fee, plus the amount of any unpaid tickets. The police department says if a vehicle is on the street with the boot for more than 72 hours, the city will impound it until all the issues are taken care of.

Each boot will cost up to $500 and the department hopes to get about four of them and then assess what the need is.

City Council will have to pass the proposed program during its meeting June 18th.