A ruling by a federal court in Michigan calling it unconstitutional for law enforcement to mark tires of parked vehicles with chalk to enforce parking ordinances doesn’t apply to Mississippi, but some area officials say it may affect the Golden Triangle anyway.
Both Columbus and Starkville have two-hour parking ordinances in their downtown areas and in both cities, chalking — an officer making a small chalk mark on a parked vehicle’s tire — is how police keep track of whether a vehicle has been in a particular space too long and should be ticketed.
On Monday, a three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Court of Appeals called chalking an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment.
Columbus City Attorney Jeff Turnage says he hadn’t read the judges’ opinion as of Wednesday, but he will advise the city to stop chalking — at least temporarily.
“At the very minimum, I think we ought to quit doing it until I can analyze (the opinion),” Turnage told The Dispatch Wednesday.
He added it’s likely that would remain his advice unless he finds something contradicting the judges’ ruling in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction covers Mississippi.
However, Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said without her city falling under the Sixth Circuit’s jurisdiction, she didn’t think there was any reason to stop the practice.
Neither Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton nor Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols would comment before they knew for sure how their policies would be affected.
Ken Winter, executive director of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police, said he doesn’t see the Sixth Circuit’s ruling as having any impact on police departments in Mississippi and would likely be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court anyway.
“I don’t get (the ruling),” he said. “I really don’t. Honestly, I think if it ever makes its way to the Supreme Court, that would be shot down. It seems kind of flimsy, really.”
He said chalking should fall under the plain view doctrine, which he said means such actions are legal if the vehicle is in a public area.
“The vehicle is sitting there in plain view,” Winter said. “It’s on a public street and you’re not intruding and you’re not seizing, and you’re really not searching. Under the plain view doctrine, something is done and you don’t have to turn a knob or break an invisible plane or something like that. You’re actually not intruding, and if you have a right to be where you are when you see it, it’s legal.”
Turnage said without reading the opinion, he doesn’t know if he would agree with it, but for now, he doesn’t see how chalking is an unreasonable search. He compared it to officers walking by a vehicle with drug-sniffing dogs. If the dog identifies the vehicle as having drugs, Turnage said, the officer has the right to search that vehicle.
“If an officer’s where he has a legal right to be and he sees a crime, he’s at a legal right to (conduct a search),” Turnage said.
Quick, low-cost enforcement
Winter said chalking has been used as a part of parking enforcement for decades as a quick, low-cost option that allows parking enforcement officers to keep track of vehicles in enforced parking areas.
“As they make their rounds and they come around, if that tire has not moved, it lets them know that’s a violation,” Winter said. “Most places have two-hour free parking, so the officer would come around every two hours and mark the tires. Then they’d do another round, and if the vehicle is still in the same location it lets them know (the vehicle hasn’t moved).
“Now, if the vehicle moves and then comes back and parks, the chances of the tire being in the exact same location is almost nonexistent,” he added.
However, he said some cities in Mississippi have started to drift away from stringent parking enforcement, and chalking, in an effort to keep people coming downtown.
“A lot of them got away from it because they didn’t want to have negative impacts on their downtowns,” Winter said. “Cities like Oxford and Starkville, where no matter what you do you’re not going to have an impact on your downtown because people are going to come there — they can get away with it. I know Jackson has been talking about going to automated meters — they have (chalking) right now.”
But Turnage said he doesn’t know what Columbus would use instead.
“There’s not anything cheap that comes to my mind,” he said. “… I don’t think the city wants to go to the expense and trouble of (installing) parking meters.”
The Dispatch has filed public records requests for revenue both cities receive from parking tickets but did not obtain that information by press time.
Individual parking tickets for staying parked longer than two hours can cost up to $20 in Columbus and $25 in Starkville.
Business responses
Parking has been a source of frustration for business owners downtown in both Columbus and Starkville, but Barbara Bigelow, director of Main Street Columbus, said she’s never heard of chalking becoming an issue.
“Honestly, we have never even had that discussion about the chalking of tires,” she said.
Bigelow noted the only thing the organization asks with regards to downtown parking is for business owners and residents to park in public parking lots behind buildings, leaving the two-hour spaces directly in front of businesses for customers.
Greater Starkville Development Partnership Interim CEO Jennifer Prather said the Partnership regularly gets complaints from businesses about cars not moving from downtown parking spots. She said a big problem is business employees parking along the streets, which takes up space that would otherwise be used for customers.
“It’s important that parking be able to turn over,” Prather said. “That was the premise behind the two-hour parking enforcement. We feel that gives people a good amount of time for shopping or dining. It’s important because we don’t want people driving around unable to find a parking space and not shopping or spending their money because they’ve decided it’s too much trouble.”
However, Daphne Hamilton and Heather Griffin, two owners of Deja Vu Salon on Main Street, have the opposite problem. They say the two-hour period is too strict, and they often have customers complain it doesn’t give enough time.
Griffin said the salon sometimes has to move customers’ vehicles to help them avoid tickets, and has paid parking tickets for customers.
“The limited time is the problem,” Hamilton said. “… Three hours would be better than two if we’re wanting to support local shopping and business. We’ve had customers that have gotten tickets that they have to pay, on top of getting their hair done or getting food.”
Susan Mackay, who owns Impressions by Susan on Main Street in Columbus and who has been a business owner downtown since the 1980s, has a different opinion. She said in a world that’s increasingly difficult for retailers to stay open, she’s for two-hour parking and whatever way police can enforce it.
“It’s extremely important that people help the downtown businesses stay open by not taking up parking places,” she said.
“I can’t understand why it’s illegal to mark tires,” she added.
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