Police warn faculty about parking

A+cars+tire+sits+booted+in+the+horseshoe+on+February+12%2C+2020.+Loyola+police+have+said+they+will+start+cracking+down+on+faculty+parking.+Photo+credit%3A+Cristian+Orellana

A car’s tire sits booted in the horseshoe on February 12, 2020. Loyola police have said they will start cracking down on faculty parking. Photo credit: Cristian Orellana

Zach Sutherland

Loyola police will start cracking down on staff members parking without permits, according to an email from LUPD Chief Todd Warren.

Last summer, before the fall 2019 semester, LUPD switched to a new parking system which gives parking passes to license plates. According to Chief Warren, the new system had “some glitches and things to work through”, so LUPD was more lenient on vehicles that didn’t have a permit.

“You can’t tell it’s going to be a problem, until you actually start to enforce the violations”, Warren said.

This semester, LUPD has sold more than 30 Staff parking passes that were not on system last semester, and over 200 student passes. An alternative to the campus parking pass is with the Parkmobile app, a digital parking meter that registers your vehicles plates and feeds the information into LUPD’s system. As long as any commuter or staff member has one of these passes, they will not be penalized for parking on campus. Warren justifies LUPD’s aggressiveness towards the new violation by explaining, “Its not just about just spending more money, there really is a safety component for registering vehicles.”

Parking permit prices vary depending on the salary earned so that pay deductions are more even. Roger White, Associate political science professor, says he is in favor for the new crackdown on parking. White also said that the faculty had the opportunity for the parking pass payment to be taken directly out of their salary for convenience. All parking pass prices can be viewed on single sign on under. the parking services portal.

Dr. White is also in favor of LUPD being more assertive when it comes to cracking down on parking violations because it ensures a convenient parking spot for all of the staff. However, when asked about why the mandatory parking passes were more for lower income staff than for commuter students, he said,”I try not to think about it.”