Parking Enforcement
Private property parking enforcement is a very delicate issue with an extensive potential liability. This is why your parking enforcement needs to be performed by a company that understands the law and follows it strictly. The following examples are practices currently in use by some security companies that show how easy it is to incur liability, even with the best of intentions.
EXAMPLE 1: A person parks their car in a Fire Lane. The security company comes along and places a boot on the car in accordance with the written instructions from the property manager. The vehicle owner returns and contacts the security company who, after collecting the prescribed fee, removes the boot and allow the owner to drive away. Seems simple, right? It is and there are security companies doing this right now. Unfortunately, under California state law, it is illegal for any but government agencies and their designated agents to boot a vehicle (22651.7 (b) CVC). This simple practice could open up the security company, the property manager, and the property to civil liability as well as potential criminal liability – the Attorney General of California has already stated that illegal booting constitutes the crime of tampering with a vehicle. Additionally, charging a fee to release the vehicle after an illegal booting could be considered extortion.
EXAMPLE 2: A person parks their car in an inappropriate parking space (e.g. resident vehicle in Guest Parking). The security company comes along, calls the designated towing agency, and immediately has the car impounded. Simple. Except, if the HOA CC&Rs and/or Rules and Regulations require a different procedure (e.g. a warning on the first violation), once again, liability has been created.
Both are examples of current practices today with some security companies. They demonstrate the reason you need a security company that stays up to date on the law and trains all their officers to comply with it strictly. While parking enforcement seems to be a straightforward procedure, the law has many details which your security company must know and follow to protect you from liability. At AMOS, our priority is to protect our clients from liability in such situations. To do so we educate ourselves from multiple sources (e.g. Vehicle Code, local PDs, etc) and continue to update that education to ensure that our actions follow the most current requirements of the law. Then we ensure that the officer we assign to your property is well-trained to ensure that they follow those best practices as well.