Teresa Wardyn’s job for the Salina Police Department formerly involved a fairly efficient, if rudimentary, method of identifying which drivers had exceeded the marked parking time limits in downtown Salina — a chalk mark on the back tire.
When it rained, though, chalking tires was a waste of time because the rain washed off the marks. Wardyn and her fellow meter maid, Kim Vincent — who are referred to by the department as community service technicians — used to work in the police department office on rainy days, helping the records department.
Now, a new automated citation process using handheld electronic ticket-writers not only lets the duo work rain or shine, it eliminates the need to re-enter data from paper tickets into the police and municipal court system and helps eliminate data inaccuracies.
It also enables the officers to better track repeat parking violators.
The automated system has been in use for less than a month, and the two technicians are using the system to give warning tickets only, for now.
©Salina Journal