2008 Woodie Awards
Fake permits, a real crime
Ashley Mackin
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: News
For the spring 2008 semester a parking permit costs $135, a daily permit costs $3, and the meters run at around 8 minutes for a dime. For some people, those costs are too high. Their solution: fraudulent parking permits.
Over the last few years, students have been making counterfeit permits to avoid paying the fees. But they could end up paying more than they imagined. University Police Sergeant Mary Dezern said students try to modify parking permits by writing over the date, changing the coloring, or printing their own.
She said the parking enforcement officers can tell the fake permits from the actual ones. She said, "For the people who [look at parking permits] all day, they know what they look like."
Despite the risk of being caught, in 2007 there were 13 cases of imitation parking permits. Dezern says these cases vary in the amount. "One case had two permits, while another had around 27 permits," she said. The 27 permits were discovered when a parking enforcement officer saw one permit in a car and went in to retrieve it, and saw the rest inside the car.
University police officers can in fact go into a car to retrieve evidence if needed, since legally a vehicle is mobile and less private than one's home. And imitation parking permits are considered evidence.
The penalty for making and using these permits ranges from a parking ticket to a year in jail. At the very least, the police issue a $150 parking ticket, and refer all cases to Student Affairs. If the case goes to the district attorney, the user could be charged with fraud and spend a year in jail. In one incidence, a student's diploma was nearly withheld.
Marie Koly graduated with an elementary education degree from Humboldt State in 2005, but she got her diploma four months late because she used a fake parking permit. "I borrowed my neighbor's permit and assumed it was good, and UPD ran the permit and it came up lost or stolen," she said, "so they broke into my car, took the permit, and gave me a ticket for $75."
Over the last few years, students have been making counterfeit permits to avoid paying the fees. But they could end up paying more than they imagined. University Police Sergeant Mary Dezern said students try to modify parking permits by writing over the date, changing the coloring, or printing their own.
She said the parking enforcement officers can tell the fake permits from the actual ones. She said, "For the people who [look at parking permits] all day, they know what they look like."
Despite the risk of being caught, in 2007 there were 13 cases of imitation parking permits. Dezern says these cases vary in the amount. "One case had two permits, while another had around 27 permits," she said. The 27 permits were discovered when a parking enforcement officer saw one permit in a car and went in to retrieve it, and saw the rest inside the car.
University police officers can in fact go into a car to retrieve evidence if needed, since legally a vehicle is mobile and less private than one's home. And imitation parking permits are considered evidence.
The penalty for making and using these permits ranges from a parking ticket to a year in jail. At the very least, the police issue a $150 parking ticket, and refer all cases to Student Affairs. If the case goes to the district attorney, the user could be charged with fraud and spend a year in jail. In one incidence, a student's diploma was nearly withheld.
Marie Koly graduated with an elementary education degree from Humboldt State in 2005, but she got her diploma four months late because she used a fake parking permit. "I borrowed my neighbor's permit and assumed it was good, and UPD ran the permit and it came up lost or stolen," she said, "so they broke into my car, took the permit, and gave me a ticket for $75."
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