SAN DIEGO — Marking tires to enforce parking rules is like entering property without a search warrant, a federal court said Monday as it declared the practice unconstitutional in Michigan and three other states.
The purpose of marking tires was to "raise revenue," not to protect the public against a safety risk, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said when it ruled in favor of a Michigan woman who had accumulated more than a dozen parking tickets in a few years span.
"The city does not demonstrate, in law or logic, that the need to deter drivers from exceeding the time permitted for parking — before they have even done so — is sufficient to justify a warrantless search under the community caretaker rationale," the court said.
The decision sets a new standard for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, the states covered by the 6th Circuit. The court overturned an opinion by U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington, who had called the legal theory "unorthodox" and dismissed the case in favor of Saginaw.
In San Diego, however, it still remains legal for police to mark tires with chalk to keep track of how long a car has been parked.
Wendy Patrick, who is a legal analyst, said, "what the court held is chalking constitutes a search and if there is no warrant and no probable cause - when you chalk a tire you don't know if that person is going to violate the law. It does not mean that other states are bound by that ruling. It is a ruling that has people talking because "
On Wednesday, News 8 camera's captured parking enforcement officers chalking vehicles up and down the streets of Little Italy. If cars remained parked for longer than the two hour maximum, they were ticketed. In one case, a car was towed.
The San Diego Police Department issued the following statement:
"The ruling the 6th Circuit made does not affect California therefore at this time, there will be no changes to how SDPD operates."
Wendy makes it clear: "This court ruling does not mean that this is free parking for all. It is simply a ruling how we can constitutionally enforce parking violators."
The parking rules have not changed, the San Diego Police Department said. If chalk cannot be used then the department said it is equipped and able to take photos with a timestamp.