Interim Chief of Police, Kevin Sharkey tells us about the new parking system that will go into effect in the Spring. Stay tuned to The Rocket for the full story.
Posted by WSRU-TV News on Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Slippery Rock University will be updating their parking permit system to be more convenient for police officers. This new parking system will be in full effect by the spring semester.
“We have been working on this new process for over a year,” Kevin Sharkey, interim chief of police for university police said. “This new parking system is license plate recognition.”
Sharkey said two of the police cars already have cameras put on them and as they drive through the parking lots, the cameras will take pictures, scan and see if the cars in the lot are valid. He said the computer system will know if the cars are registered as commuters, staff or resident parking.
“It’ll save a lot of time for our officers and we’ll also benefit from the accuracy,” Sharkey said.
He said this will be implemented by Dec. 23 and there will be training for the officers and student workers the week of Dec. 17. He said new students can register their vehicles on the website starting on Dec. 23. and students with current parking passes won’t have to do anything.
“Anyone who already has a car registered doesn’t have to do anything,” Sharkey said. “Everything will transfer over to the new system.”
Staff parkers will have to do this now and test it before students come back in the spring.
Sharkey said one great thing about this new system is how students can register with their email and cell phones to receive alerts about parking lot closings, and these alerts are separate from the E2 alerts.
“For example, if there is a water main break at West Lake and the lot is closed, we can send an alert to all students with commuter parking passes,” he said.
Sharkey also said they hope to have an interactive map up soon, showing which lots are full and when they are full. He said that there will be an app for the phone to show this map. He added that this new system will save time for visitors as well.
“It will save visitors time as well because they just have to go to the website before they arrive, put in how many days they will be visiting and register for parking,” Sharkey said.
He said the biggest benefit is the convenience. He said this will save hours of officers having to write tickets. It is also environmentally friendly because there will be less usage of paper.
“This is also beneficial because the system takes pictures automatically, so there’s no disputing,” Sharkey said. “It takes real time pictures and sends it to your email.”
He added that even though there will be less disputing, the process of appeals will still remain the same online.
Sharkey said there will be a new rule against backing in. If people back into spots, unless they have a duel license plate, the camera will not be able to read the license plate. He said an email will go out at the beginning of the spring semester highlighting some of the new rules and regulations.
