Many thoughts, some more bitter than others, run through students’ heads when they think of the “ticket police,” the people in the brown uniforms with tickets in hand.
When Beth Rugan, a history freshman, sees the ticket police, she thinks, “Hey, am I legally parked? If I’m not, I better move now.”
While some fear the ticket police, some feel anger toward them. When Learlin LeJeune, computer engineering freshman, sees the ticket officers, he thinks, “Holy Cow! Because of people like you, I have to take 10 extra minutes out of my day to park.”
However, some remain apathetic if they have never received a ticket.
Warren Freeman, a biology freshman, does not know anyone, including himself, who has ever gotten a ticket on campus before.
Others have never even seen the ticket police.
“I hear people talking about them, but I haven’t seen them,” said Randee Hofmann, a biology freshman.
But what do the people who write the tickets think when they see indignant drivers, and what do they look for before writing the ever-so-despised tickets?
“We don’t discriminate, and we’re not out here to get anybody,” said Benjamin Bishop White III, a parking, traffic and transportation guard.
Basically, a day in the life of the person who writes tickets on campus starts with getting assigned an area of campus to patrol, said White, who has been working for the University for almost 10 years. When he starts looking for violations, he first looks for students parked in handicapped spots, fire lanes and employee sections.
“What people don’t understand is if students park in employee spots, it makes [employees] late for work,” White said.
Areas like the Nicholson Apartments are the slowest areas for ticketing, and the busiest areas are academic and employee areas, he said.
However, contrary to popular belief, “we don’t just write tickets,” White said.
For example, Thursday there was an East Baton Rouge Parish high school career day on campus. Most of the traffic guards were diverted to keeping the buses in check, directing them and making sure they parked in the correct spaces.
“A day in the life of a traffic cop can be pretty hectic,” said Kajuana Lennix, a student worker monitoring the radio at the Public Safety building Thursday.
The duties of a traffic guard can be anything from helping maintenance paint the traffic signs and the special zones on the curbs to sectioning off parking areas for people with special access during athletic events, he said.
“We don’t make the rules on gameday,” White said. “Those decisions come from the athletic building.”
Even a parking guard had parking complaints. White has a specific zone he has to park his truck in, and if he is assigned an area across campus, he has to walk.
Traffic guards have to pay for permits just like everyone else, he said. He is not immune to getting tickets himself.
“I got two tickets from my supervisor because I didn’t have my permit up,” White said. “And she knew my truck!”
Although White said he sometimes will warn a student before he gives them a ticket, he is just trying to do his job. Sometimes traffic guards will write up to 100 tickets a day.
Actually, the total number of tickets written increased from 58,109 in 1998-1999 to 64,271 in 2001-2002, according to statistics provided by the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation. So far this academic year, officials have issued 25,053 tickets.
However, White can only be sympathetic to an extent.
“When y’all put your emergency lights on, that’s how y’all tell on yourself,” he said. “We know y’all aren’t supposed to be there — that’s what draws us to y’all.”
One time, White decided to give a person with his flashers on the benefit of the doubt, but he waited for an hour before the guy came out to get his car, he said.
Sometimes people put fake or old tickets on their windshields because parking guards cannot give more than one ticket in the same day, he said. However, he has learned to check the date on the ticket before he writes one.
In another instance, when White was working at the baseball field, he caught a person who photocopied a handicap tag and laminated it. The way he could tell it was fake, he said, was the tag was in black and white, and the real tag is blue.
“That’s the lowest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “That’s a pet peeve of mine — what goes around comes around.”
Once, White was talking to a softball player who broke her leg and needed a medical permit. She said she had parked in the handicapped spots before her accident and did not think twice. However, once she was the one who needed close access to her classes, she could not find any spots.
“I’d rather someone park on a yellow curb before a handicapped spot,” White said.
Either way, people who park on a yellow curb, fire lane or handicap zone and are not supposed to be there will get towed, he said.
Despite the pet peeves, White’s biggest concern is for the safety of students.
“I think students need to be a little more careful. Pedestrians have the right of way and cars should slow down at the crosswalks,” he said.
White also urges students to use the campus transit system more, which runs until 2 a.m.
“You should be scared out of your mind. It’ll keep you safe,” he said.