In order to handle less tickets appeals and avoid disputes, San Diego City College Campus Police are using a new ticketing system called Velosum, a citation management solution designed to maintain accuracy.
With Velosum, campus police officers are equipped with a digital pen, citation book and a cell phone. Once officers handwrite tickets the data is sent directly to the Web, and with their phone, officers take pictures of the offense to accompany the citation, thus making infractions clear.
“We were spending a lot of money and manpower to go through appeals,” Campus Police Sergeant Jordan Mirakian said. “With this new system, we now have a way to say no because we now have a picture to back up the ticket, before we had tons of appeals.”
All officers take pictures of vehicles license plate, rear end to see the entire vehicle and of the infraction being committed.
College Service Officer Linda Seamans believes Velosum is a tool for campus police to gain credibility within the college community.
“I prefer the new system because of the pictures. It validates my work. Many people think we just give out tickets but we are always trying to do as good a job as we can,” Seamans said.
Seamans also believes that the new ticketing system benefits students and faculty that receive a citation ticket, because the picture of the infraction that is taken may end up proving that the officer made an error in issuing the citation.
“It may work in a student’s favor to have a picture taken if we made a mistake. We see hundreds of cars so it’s possible to make mistakes, it does happen” she said.
City College students are divided in their agreement with Velosum, some do not like the picture of their vehicle to be taken and put on the internet and others do appreciate the attempt for accuracy that is being done by campus police.
“I don’t want my car’s license plate picture to be put on the internet, I don’t care if campus police only has access to that site, it makes me feel uncomfortable,” Diana Felix, child development student, said. “You never know, what if some student on campus can gain access to the pictures of my vehicle? There’s no such thing as being too careful.”
“If someone doesn’t want a picture of their car being taken to prove they were committing an infraction, then they shouldn’t be parking illegally or whatever. It’s common sense,” David Luna, undeclared student, said. “I do appreciate campus police trying to be more accurate with their ticketing since it can work in my favor if an officer makes a mistake.”
Mirakian added that 85 percent of tickets issued on campus parking lots are for not having a City College parking permit displayed on vehicle. “Using the new system will only help make space for those students that have paid for their parking permits.”
