The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that chalking tires is an unconstituation unreasonable search, banning any contact or physical intrusion.
It did not rule on LPR images, or "virtual chalking" as marketed by some LPR manufacturers.
Should tire chalking be unconstitutional? Please explain why/why not.
Legally parked car...no probable cause or suspicion of wrongdoing.
Illegally parked car...why chalk when you can tow?
A vehicle's tires are chalked in time-limited parking scenarios (1, 2, 4 hour parking limit) for the enforcing officer to have a visual reference for how long the vehicle has been parked, and also if the vehicle has been moved or not (vertical/horizontally drawn line as a reference).
Police used to chalk tires every hour in a bar parking lots where I lived. The more marks the better target for pulling over. Practice was stopped after bar owners complained to the city officials.
Agencies should be running away from chalking. First, it's a hassle. Second, there's a strong case to be made that chalking is a contributor to repetitive motion and strain injuries, which leaves the agency open to all kinds of legal nonsense. Video based tire markers are a much better option, and they are quite reliable.
Video based tire markers are a much better option, and they are quite reliable.
Hal, thanks! Can you elaborate on that? I searched online for it without any good matches. I think I get the general approach but curious to learn more about it.
So, there are a few vehicle mounted parking enforcement systems out there that use analytics to remember tire position.
Tire marking does a few things - it tracks time, but it also tracks if the vehicle was moved and came back to the same spot. The chalk mark is usually at the top of the tire, so you can't say that you left the spot, drove a few blocks away, and came back to find your spot was still open. If you left, it's really unlikely that the chalk mark would still be at the top of the tire. The video systems take a photo of the tire position, and associates that with the LPR read. If usually looks for thing like tire stems or wheel logos and notes the position. It usually uses a camera mounted on the back bumper at about a foot off the ground, look for cutouts in the bumper if it's a car or just a small camera if it's a golf cart or parking cart.
I am just curious to know how touching and putting a mark on someone else's car is not vandalism?
I have heard Genetec had a patent on digital chalking that expired recently. Can anyone confirm this?
Is it just me or does this seem like a really old way of doing things? Could you just not use use LPRs at the entrance and exit to and use software to tell you how long a car was in the lot? Then as you drive around and scan tags, the system would know how long the vehicle was there?
Are there that many people that will come out and move their car to a different spot in the same lot?
If so, could each space be numbered, then a tag # associated with the space #? Then the system could flag any cars that have moved spaces, without leaving the lot.
Then with properly positioned cameras and PTZ, you may be able to scan the whole lot without driving up and down aisles.
This idea is purely my intellectual property and may not be copied or used.
Now I just need a VC.
I knew there was something I was missing. While living just outside of 2 major metro areas most of my life, I do not actually have much experience parking in the city.
Dang it, there goes my idea
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