Tattletale parking tickets get bumpy ride at city committee

A controversial proposal to explore whether the city should issue some parking tickets based on photos taken by the public has hit a snag.

On Monday, council’s public works committee voted to direct staff not to pursue the idea “at this time.”

“Due to the way this has all imploded, I think we can maybe pause the exploration this year,” said Coun. Janice Lukes, the committee’s chairwoman.

The Winnipeg Parking Authority’s annual report had noted it would “explore a photo-based public reporting system for parking violations,” which could “leverage technology and community involvement to identify and address parking violations using a photo-based public reporting system.”

While Winnipeggers have been able to submit photos to report parking infractions for years, the current rules require a parking enforcement officer to investigate the matter before a ticket is issued. The proposal would allow the authority to enforce some violations using public-submitted photos alone, in cases where there aren’t any parking officers available to investigate and when the vehicle has been driven away.

The proposal triggered some backlash over concerns untrained Winnipeggers would be tasked with parking enforcement, while artificial intelligence could be used to manipulate the images sent in.

Some feared a system that focuses on allowing residents to report parking violations could spark conflicts.

Prior to the vote, Lukes, who represents Waverly West, told reporters she shared some of those concerns, since city parking officers sometimes face conflict while handing out tickets.

“There’s enough confrontation in the world right now. We don’t need to deal with this right now,” she said.

The public works committee voted 2-1 to rule out the idea for the time being. The full council must vote on the matter. Lukes and Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River) voted for that change, while Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) opposed it. Coun. Devi Sharma, who represents Old Kildonan, was not present for the vote.

During the meeting, Winnipeg Parking Authority staff said they felt the idea had been partly misconstrued in the media, noting a parking official would still review the images sent in before issuing a ticket.

“It wouldn’t be the public’s uploading a photo (and a ticket) automatically gets mailed out,” said Ajaleigh Williams, a program manager with the parking authority.

Parking officials stressed the change is not meant to have the public take over municipal tasks but to help ensure significant parking issues, such as someone illegally parking in a fire lane or a disabled parking spot, can be better addressed.

“It’s not a high-risk situation in our mind, anyway, to get the better effectiveness for enforcement,” said Williams.

She noted software programs can also be used to help detect the use of AI.

Amid fears the public would be required to attend court to answer questions about contested tickets, Williams said that would not happen because such matters are settled through a city appeal process, not the court system.

The parking authority also said the idea could free up officers’ time by making better use of complaints that are already commonly sent to the city.

“Given the significant number of photos that are already submitted, we wanted to take a deeper dive… to look at whether we could utilize these photos… to actually affect more enforcement,” said Randy Topolniski, the authority’s general manager.

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