I came out of the Rec Center to find a parking ticket on my car. To make maters worse, it was not a parking ticket!
Upon inspection, the parking ticket I received was for an “expired registration.” Guilty until proven innocent!
My registration was not expired. Someone had removed the red 2019 sticker from my plate. This happens often in Durango.
This wasted two hours as I headed to DMV to prove to the city I was innocent. The DMV office volunteered that this happens quite often!
Then I visited the transportation office to get the fine reversed.
What is wrong with this?
First, a “registration ticket” is not a parking ticket! Second, it is overreach of authority by parking enforcement officers. Why?
Parking officers cannot look up a vehicle’s registration. They assume it is not registered, even though stickers are easily removed. Real police officers can run your plates to see if a vehicle is registered.
Durango Parking Enforcement has established a system with no integrity, where one is guilty until they prove they’re innocent. Maybe it’s time citizens have the right to bill the city for the time the city wastes by ticketing unjustly. It’s only fair, since they have established policies and procedures that are in violation of the principle of our country’s legal system, “Innocent until proven guilty.”
Jeff Schadt
Durango
