Evening star., 1955-03-06


six months operation show that
out Of 156.769 tickets received
from the precincts, Ais have
been adjusted.
OF those. 2,852 were with
drawn by the precincts and 1851
cancelled by the corporation
counsel's Office. More than half
of these, Mr.. Bramhall said. were
withdrawn or Cancelled because
the driver had diplomatic i'm
munity. Inspector Agnew said
that even if diplomat wants to
pay a parking ticket. the law for
bids the Police Department from
accepting his money.
None Of the $3S4,000 collected
so far will go either to the Po-
lice Department or to Municipal
Court. 1t will go into the gen.
eral fund. and from there to the
United States Treasury.
Concerning the projected saw
ing in police manpower. Inspector
Agnew said it is impossible to
tell whether it had saved the
predicted so man-years. He
said, however, that the system
does save time for policemen.
He said that the number Of
tickets issued by policemen bears
that statement out. Last July.
his men issued 14,009 parking
tickets. In August, with the CVB
in operation II days. 14,252 we're
issued.
During September, the first
full month of CVB's operation,
the number Of tickets issued
jumped to 1883. Inspector Ag-
new said this does not indicate
an increase in the number Of
violations. but rather an in
crease in the number Of viola
tors caught. because his men
spent more time on the street
and less time following UP on
tickets.
For subsequent months. park
ing tickets issued were: October,
l9,600; November, 20,526, and
December, 1871.
Employs Eight Men.
Eight policemen work now
with the CVB. Seven Of them
deliver warrants and handle the
warrant Office, and the other,
recently assigned, Is helping
clear up the backlog Of old 1858
and 1854 unpaid parking tickets.
The one projected advantage
Of eliminating precinct booking,
Of course. went into effect from
the first day. Police Chief Robert
v. Murray calls this one of the
major advantages of the pro-
gram. He believes that 1t Is
partly responsible for the in
crease in compliance with tickets.
Much of the increase in COL
lections has come from out-of-
town motorists, particularly
those from nearby Maryland and
Virginia. who formerly tore up
ticket If they got it. Now they
are tracked down to their place
of business II they ignore warm
ing letters and warrants, and
more are paying when the
tickets are received.
Obtain State Records.
The CVB has purchased from
Maryland and Virginia books
which list the license numbers
of all cars registered in those
States, along with the names and
addresses Of the persons to whom
the cars are registered. This
costs about $3.50 annually.
Inspector Agnew said that un-
der the precinct system Of book
ing violators, it would have been
too costly for the Police Depart
ment to use that method. for
tracing out-of-town violators. A
set of books would have been
needed for each precinct he said.
at a prohibitive cost.
Concerning the backlog, Mr..
Bramhall's Office has just begun
checking old tickets issued to
Maryland and Virginia motor
lists. After two weeks operation.
1925 intent to issue warrant"
notices have been mailed to Vir-
ginia and 100 to Maryland. OF
those. Ill came back from Vir-
ginia because Of bad addresses,
and 19 from Maryland.
But during the two weeks.
460 Virginia motorists and 21
Maryland motorists paid up.