If You Witness a Parking Enforcement Officer Running a Red Light

If there's anyone who shouldn't be running red lights, it's civilian city employees for the Department of Transportation. Instead of being examples to the community on how citizens should drive, we often witness them blowing past stop signs and running red lights on right turns (oh, the "California stop"). This morning, we happened to witness such an incident and catch the license plate number. But if you want to file a complaint, what do you do?

It's pretty easy, call the department's regional parking enforcement office and ask to speak to a supervisor (click here and scroll down for phone numbers). They'll ask you where, when and if you know the license plate or vehicle ID (posted in gold lettering) numbers. In theory, the supervisor is then supposed to go pull the officer's records, check to see if other complaints have been made and then call in the officer for counseling. Unless you have concrete evidence like a videotape, they can't do much more, but putting a loose officer on guard is a good thing for safer streets.