Re: one set of ru;es for them one set of rules for us
This is exactly what it comes down to. Right or wrong its a bad for public relations. No one likes hypocrites and when people see those enforcing the laws not following the laws it doesn't go over well.
I watched a parking enforcement officer give a ticket the other day for an expired parking tag while the officer himself was parked illegally and impeding traffic the entire time.
And once your parking cop had issued that tag, he was on his way. Everyone knows how hard it can be to find an available legal street parking spot in the city core. Would you have had him take the time to find a legal parking spot a block or three away, walk back to the offending car, issue the tag, and then walk back to whatever legal place he had found to park his parking control car? That's hardly an efficient use of resources, is it?
Welcome to the realities of enforcement work in the big city. There are not many places you can short-term street park in the downtown parts of the city. Many of the parking lots usually charge the same hefty rates whether you're there for 5 minutes or 5 hours. And those parking lots are often not close to where you want to be.
This is one reason why cars with handicapped parking permits are able to park in areas normally designated as no parking. The disabled can park near where they need to be. Most people can understand the reasoning and few reasonable people aside from the envious and most petty would heap scorn on the disabled for doing so.
The cops are not disabled, but they also have good reason to keep their cars near. Whether parking cops or Toronto police, the cars are their office and contained their necessary working equipment. Especially with the cops, their breaks can end on an instant's notice when the next emergency call comes in over the radio. When that happens, some of the fools here believe that it would be more beneficial to society to have the cop run a block or three blocks back to their legally-parked cruiser, maybe even take a cab or a subway to get there, instead of simply letting them park closer by for a few minutes in a "no parking" lay-by where they are not blocking traffic.
Yes, cops should be setting an example, but the adults among us should also realize that their working conditions are different than that of the general public. They do get certain considerations as part of doing that job that we do not. That is not hypocrisy and any reasoning adult should be able to figure out the difference.
But hell, I have a solution. To appease the petty whiners, maybe the city should designate round-the-clock police-only parking spots at regular intervals on every downtown surface street, and make them instant tow-away zones for all others. We can start with both sides of Front St near Union Station, and include Temperance as well. Give them the necessary places to be able to park legally so the petty photo taking and criticism stops and we'll all be the happier for it, right?
